As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
