As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
