As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying 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 the US, though without the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
