As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, 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 learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears 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,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
