As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … 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 see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
