As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding 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 government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
