When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
