As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
