When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
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, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
