When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge 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 numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
