Mr. Ding, the fan club founder, who has been posting news and videos about Mr. Trump since November, said, “I admire his outspokenness and personal charisma.” The fan club, he said, is a way to inform Chinese about a man who could become the next American president.

The number of club followers has risen from about 2,000 in late February to nearly 9,000 at the end of March. They discuss the election, watch the debates and attack Mr. Trump’s detractors.

Interviews with about a dozen fans suggest that some are well-educated professionals. Their views can seem contradictory: advocating personal liberty and free markets, but also nationalism and a strong state. They are interested in the American electoral process but say China is not ready for popularly elected leaders.

Some have been following Mr. Trump since “The Apprentice,” the reality television show that he hosted. In fact, Sun Jianguo, 31, a building technician, said in an interview that it was Mr. Trump who got him interested in American politics.

Mr. Sun also likes Mr. Trump’s critical comments about Muslims. He said there are Muslims in his home province of Hebei and the city of Tianjin, where he went to college, “and they can be bossy sometimes.”

Tan Zhenxing, 29, another fan club follower, said in an interview that Mr. Trump could be the strong leader the United States needs to remain at the forefront of innovation. “If America fails,” Mr. Tan said, “Europe will fail, and then China will fail.”

The Chinese state media has faulted Mr. Trump for his statements on immigrants. But many of Mr. Trump’s middle-class Chinese fans do not see his proposals to expel illegal immigrants and bar low-skilled workers from entering the United States as applying to them.