When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
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 news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
