As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
