When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed 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 optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
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, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
