When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on 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 America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
