As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets 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 presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
