When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, 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 has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
