As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences 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 government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
