When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
