As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
