When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost 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, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
