As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
