When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
