When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
