When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed 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 the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced 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 made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
