When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
