When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
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 defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
