As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, 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, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
