As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked 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 America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling 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 they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
