As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects 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 social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
