When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. 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, though without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
