When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown 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 his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, 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 capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
