When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
