As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
