When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
