When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
