As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms 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 focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
