As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, 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 an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection 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 acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
