When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis 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 while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
