As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, 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 difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
