When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
