As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still 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 they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
