As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain 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 many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
