When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump 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 unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom 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 being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
