As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
