When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, 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 the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
