The cutthroat battery war between the U.S., China, and Europe is all about emulating the unsung king of silicon chips — When revolution swallowed China in 1949, the United States admitted a few thousand people who took flight. Among them was an aspiring 18-year-old writer named Zhang Zhongmou, who, leaving his parents behind, landed in Boston, where he had an uncle. Four years later, Zhang graduated from MIT, though not with…