As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, 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 those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
