As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule 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.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
