As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years 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 the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, 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 sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
