As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible 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 currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
