As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
