As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
