When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded 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.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
