As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
