When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
