When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
