When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into 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 observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
