As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, 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 bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start 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 execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment 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 acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
