As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, 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, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
