As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
