As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
