When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
