As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “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 many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent 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 emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
