As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America 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, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
