When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
