When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked 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 could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
