When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see 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 organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment 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 prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
