As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
