When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
