When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
