When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
