As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge 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.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
