As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting 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,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of 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. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
