As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the 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 where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems 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 that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
