As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year after 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 find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP 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 harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America 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 such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
