When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
