When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is 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 embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
