When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge 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 “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
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, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
