When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
