As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon 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, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
