As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide 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 the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
