When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
