When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face 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 the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
