As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase 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 refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
