As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
