When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
