When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
