As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration 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 the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
