When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad