As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
