As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said 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 America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
