When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking 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.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
