As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi 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 became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still 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 reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
