As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” 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 legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
