As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
