As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
