As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed 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 the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed 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 the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
