As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start 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 presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
