When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year after the president was elected 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.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
