When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad