As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
