When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
