When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
