When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, 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. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
