When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
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 Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
