As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity 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, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
