When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
