When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
