When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
