When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity 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 once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
