As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect 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 leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But since 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 seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
