As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is 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 monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
