After numbers, colours and animal names, Kai has turned his studying efforts to vehicle types and makers. During the last week, he has developed very reliable Audi-spotting skills, and he also greets every sports car with excited shouts of Ferrari (even though they never are, at least not on our side of the river, and his inflection is Chinese to a worrying degree: Falali).

China is the largest car producer (and the largest car market) in the world now. About half of the automobiles produced here are local brands (which I had never seen or heard of before), the other half are the output of joint-ventures with foreign makers (almost all of which are sold domestically).

The first and largest joint-venture is Volkswagen Group China, which started operations in Shanghai in 1984, and has been the leading car maker for more than twenty years. Almost all taxis (and many police cars) in Shanghai are VW Santana (the new Expo taxis are Tourans).

Other joint-ventures are Shanghai GM (Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac), Beijing Hyundai, Dongfeng Nissan, Chang'an Ford, and Sichuan FAW Toyota; local brands are called Chery, Geely, or BYD.

The best selling new cars last month have been

1. VW Lavida – 25,100
2. Xia Li – 24,300
3. Chevrolet Cruze – 23,800
4. Hyundai Elantra – 21,800
5. Chery Fulwin – 20,500
6. VW Jetta – 20,300
7. BYD F3 – 20,300
8. Buick Excelle – 19,200
9. VW Santana – 17,900
10. VW Bora – 17,900