When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
