As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
