As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, 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 essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
