When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
