When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations 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 since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, 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 Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
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 it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
