As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident 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,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
