As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
