As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor 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 the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
