When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
