When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes 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 a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
