When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
