When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” 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 a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
