When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting 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,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling 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 approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
