As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
