As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled 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 suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
