When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
