As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
