As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect 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 camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
