As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, 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 climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
