As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing 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 purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
