As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, 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 notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
