When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
