When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, 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 purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country 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 by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
