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 avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive 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 investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
