As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China 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 purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
