As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era 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 declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
