When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if 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, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
