As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined 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 now than say anything bad
