When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America 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, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
