When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, 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 environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president 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 economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
