As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected 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 numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
