When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, 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, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
