As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
