As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year after 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 in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president 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 economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
