As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi 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. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy 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 young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
