As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
