When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
