As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, 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 rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
