As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
