As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
