When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China 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.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
