As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
