As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
