When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
