As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
