When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused 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 a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
