As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders 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 growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
