As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” 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 open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
