When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
