As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
