When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
