When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, 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 used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept 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,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
