When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists 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 temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
