When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
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 demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
