As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
