When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
