As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration 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 diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears 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 somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
