As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, 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 – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
