When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
