When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, 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 may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“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,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
