As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help 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 a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
