As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
