When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad