When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems 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 Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, 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 as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
