When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
