As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
