When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. 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 the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of 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,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
