As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase 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 will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
