When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, 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 president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
