When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations 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, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
