As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi 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. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
