As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, 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, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
