When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking 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 directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
