As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing 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 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,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering 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 Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
