As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
