When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, 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, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
