As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
