As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, 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 harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing 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 declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
