As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked 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 the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
