When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become 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, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
