As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
