As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
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 “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept 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 “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad