When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. 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.
However in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying 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 the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, 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 post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment 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 comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
