As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
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, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
