As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
