As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
