When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
