As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing 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 to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
