When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type 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 the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
