As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, 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 mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
