As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on 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 including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country 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 all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
