As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “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 after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
