As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto 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 directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
