When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing 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 state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
