When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
