As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
