As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
