An Ill-Fated, Dragon-Headed, Slow Boat to China

Meanwhile, both companies are moving ahead with new plans. Erudite, where Willms is still chairman of the board and majority shareholder, is busy conducting tests of its technology at the Port of Tacoma. The company is focused on a new acoustical-sensing device that can detect if a radiation shield has been placed in a container (in an attempt to mask a nuclear device). "It's totally different from anything in the world," says Anderson, who has an M.B.A. in marketing and says he's spent most of his career in the field.

Willms, too, is optimistic. "Fortune 500 companies that were in discussion with China8 are looking forward to exploring traditional out-of-home advertising (LED screens, airport media, underground media, etc.) with GBoards," he writes. "Looking ahead, the 2010 World Expo [in Shanghai] is in sight to pick up where The China8 Project left off."

Kevin P. Casey

From left: John Anderson, UW professor Les Atlas, and Paul Willms at the China8 launch last year.

Related Content

• SIFF For the Food-Minded Set: Finding North
  May 18, 2012
• Gary Locke Enters the Fray Over Blind Chinese Dissident Chen Guangcheng
  May 3, 2012
• Justin Solondz, Held Naked and Behind Glass in a Chinese Prison, Proves Gary Locke's Point
  March 16, 2012
• Former Gov. Gary Locke Buys Coffee at Starbucks, Confuses Chinese
  August 15, 2011
• Gary Locke Tapped by Obama as Ambassador to China--and Likely Envoy for Boeing, Microsoft
  March 7, 2011

More About

• Paul Willms
• John Anderson
• Gary Locke
• Olympic Games
• Summer Olympics

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

mfefer@seattleweekly.com