As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, 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 young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
