When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
