As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
