As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
