As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
