As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting 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 a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder 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 made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
