When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, 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 could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor 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 educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be 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 all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
