As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
