As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics 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 online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it 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 Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge 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 a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
