As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
