When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, 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 the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
