As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
