As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China 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 lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, 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 government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
