When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
