When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
