As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China 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 from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
