When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god 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, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
