As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “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 material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous 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, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
