When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump 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 recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept 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 “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
