As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
