When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective 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, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
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 freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
