As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
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 reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted 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 mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
