When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie 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 appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
