As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on 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 used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
