When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. 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 governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
