In China’s Factory Belt, Workers Race to Survive the Robot Era

In a 200-square-meter workshop in the southern manufacturing hub of Foshan, 38-year-old Chen Zhen deftly adjusts the parameters on a robotic arm. As the machine rotates beside him, a simulation mirrors each movement in real time — a tool the mid-career electrical engineer hadn’t operated independently until a specialized course last year.“Now we just run the simulation on a computer instead