As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him 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 the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
