When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. 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”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
