As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
