As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades 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, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, 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, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
