When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
