When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on 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 including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
