When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting 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 an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
