When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated 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 the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
