As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever 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 have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
