When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations 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, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
