When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's 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 mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. 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 the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
