When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain 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 they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
