As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
