As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
