As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
