As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted 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 Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
