As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, 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 his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
