When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
