When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States 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 sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused 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 typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
