When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears 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, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. 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 appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
