When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
