As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
