As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models 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 appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity 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 once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
