As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about 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 after the pandemic, 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 declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
