As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions 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 the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
