When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
