When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking 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 initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
