When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
