As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
