As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
