As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations 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 – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
