China's Reviving the American Heartland -- One Low Wage at a Time

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And there happens to be a lot of it about. This year has seen $75 billion of Chinese acquisitions across the U.S., more than double the previous record -- ranging from luxury hotels to aluminum-foil makers. Since 2008, Chinese companies have invested $4.1 billion in Ohio and Michigan alone, according to the Rhodium Group, a research firm.

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They're jobs that tend not to pay as well as factory work once did, though -- and there probably aren't as many of them. To keep its production in the U.S. viable, Fuyao uses more automation than it does in China, said John Gauthier, president of Fuyao Glass America Inc. "Our customers, all they care about is that their cost doesn't increase," he said.

A line worker at Fuyao starts at $12 per hour, equivalent to an annual salary of about $25,000. GM workers at the old Moraine plant could make at least twice that, topped off by perks like defined-benefit pensions, according to union officials and former employees.