As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
