When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
