As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something 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 might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
