When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades 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 America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, 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 public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
