As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
