As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, 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 execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
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 sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
