When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, 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 the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
However 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 in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable 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 improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, 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 freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
