As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation 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,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be 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 the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
