As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
