When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident 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 online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, 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, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
