When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. 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 believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, 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 perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
