As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, 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. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
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 reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, 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 bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
