When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, 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 improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, 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, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
