As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, 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 reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies 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 stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
