As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of 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 correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
