As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
