When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
