When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound 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, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, 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 rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
