When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
