When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, 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 the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
