When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities 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,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
