When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
