As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
