When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
