As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
