As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, 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 national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention 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 demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
