When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
