When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous 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. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
