As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has 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 a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
