As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
