As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
