When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar 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 CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
