As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America 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 including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
