When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies 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.
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 Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
