When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident 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 backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing 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 generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge 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 while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
