China has never mastered internal-combustion engines

AT A SHINY new factory in the suburbs of the port city of Wenzhou in south-eastern China, a sturdy robot arm picks up a curved sheet of glass. As a vehicle crawls past it on a conveyor belt, the arm gently nestles the windscreen into its housing, then swivels back to get its greedy suction cups on the next one. Bleepy electronic versions of “Greensleeves” and “Baa Baa Black Sheep” blare out over the factory floor every so often, signalling break time for one of the various groups of human workers.