When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people 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 America, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
