As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to 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 through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat 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 “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak 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
