When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
