As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
