When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
