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Lijia Zhang

For much of the reform era, the United States occupied a special place in the Chinese imagination. When I was growing up in China in the 1980s, the US – or meiguo, the “beautiful country” – was more than a country. It was an idea.
Many Chinese, myself included, associated it with prosperity, freedom, scientific innovation and a functioning democracy. Even those who disagreed with American foreign policy often admired its institutions and power.
That admiration survived many shocks: the Belgrade embassy bombing, the Iraq War, the global financial crisis and years of strategic rivalry. Then came US President Donald Trump.
Chinese scepticism towards the US did not begin with Trump, but his presidency accelerated a profound reassessment of America and what it represented.
When Trump first emerged on the political scene, reactions in China were mixed. Some welcomed him as a pragmatic businessman who appeared less concerned with human rights and therefore easier for Beijing to deal with. Others found him entertaining, regarding his unconventional style as a refreshing contrast to the scripted language of conventional politicians.
Many educated Chinese, however, struggled to take him seriously. His insults, conspiracy theories and theatrical style seemed incompatible with their image of American politics. The US, after all, was supposed to be the world’s most mature democracy. Some assumed America’s institutions would restrain him. Others believed voters would quickly reject him.


Nearly a decade later, he returned to the White House. By then, much of the novelty had worn off. The significance of Trump in China was no longer really about Trump himself. It was about what his rise revealed.
For decades, many Chinese intellectuals viewed the West through a narrative of historical progress. Economic development, rule of law, free speech and liberal democracy were seen as moving in the same direction. The US appeared to be the destination towards which modern societies naturally evolved.
Trump challenged that assumption. His “America first” agenda rejected many of the principles Chinese liberals associated with the post-war international order. He questioned alliances, attacked free trade, criticised international institutions and embraced a haphazard style that often seemed driven more by impulse than strategy.
To them, Trump was not the anomaly. He was the symptom. Some began asking uncomfortable questions. If the US was the world’s democratic model, why was its political system so polarised? If globalisation was producing winners on both sides of the Pacific, why were so many Americans angry enough to support a candidate promising tariffs, walls and economic nationalism?

Last December, during a stopover in New York, I watched television coverage of immigration crackdowns and an increasingly divided electorate and found myself wondering: was this still the “beautiful country” I had imagined in my youth?
Trump’s trade war with China reinforced this shift. Many Chinese concluded that American policy was driven less by ideology than by national interest. The language of partnership gave way to the language of rivalry.
At the same time, Trump has also helped strengthen Chinese confidence in their own country. The evolution of the views of Jin Canrong, a prominent international relations scholar at Renmin University, reflects this broader trend. He argues that American hegemony is in decline and that Washington’s pressure on China represents an attempt to contain its rise.
While he once felt admiration for Western institutions, today he has become a strong advocate of China’s institutional confidence. Pointing to political polarisation, social division and governance problems in the US, Jin argues that China should chart an independent development path and not seek to integrate with the West. As Sino-American rivalry has intensified, his rhetoric has become increasingly sharp.


More Chinese have come to share similar views, seeing the US as a competitor determined to preserve its dominance. As a result, nationalistic sentiment has grown.
Out of this emerged one of the most amusing political nicknames in contemporary China. Online commentators began referring to Trump as Chuan Jianguo – literally “Trump the nation builder”. The joke was that Trump was working tirelessly to make China stronger. Yet, like many jokes, it contained a deeper truth. Every tariff, diplomatic quarrel and inflammatory statement seemed to strengthen Chinese nationalism.
Perhaps the most important change, however, was psychological. For decades, many Chinese viewed America with a mixture of admiration and envy. Trump did not eliminate that admiration, but he made it more conditional and less romantic.
This does not mean Chinese people suddenly became anti-American. Plenty still admire US universities, technological innovation, cultural creativity and constitutional traditions. Chinese parents continue to send their children to study there.


However, admiration has become more qualified. The US is increasingly seen not as a political role model but as a complex society grappling with many of the same challenges facing other countries: inequality, social division, political polarisation and diminishing trust in institutions. Trump became an unlikely catalyst for this shift.
The US remains powerful and influential, yet the country many educated Chinese once imagined from afar is now viewed less idealistically. More than any other recent American leader, Trump accelerated this transformation, narrowing a psychological distance that had existed for decades.
For many educated Chinese, the US no longer appears as the destination towards which all modern societies naturally evolve. Trump did not merely change the way Chinese people viewed America, he also forced them to rethink long-held assumptions about democracy, modernity and the direction of history itself.


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Opinion

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The positive view many Chinese had for the US has been replaced with one of a complex society dealing with many challenges


The positive view many Chinese had for the US has been replaced with one of a complex society dealing with many challenges.


Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s China policy

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Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Thanks to Trump, Chinese people have a more realistic view of America

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The positive view many Chinese had for the US has been replaced with one of a complex society dealing with many challenges

The positive view many Chinese had for the US has been replaced with one of a complex society dealing with many challenges