When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
