As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, 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 concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions 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 camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China 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 expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “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,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
