Empress of China, also known as Chinese Queen, was a three-masted, square-rigged sailing ship of 360 tons,[3] initially built in 1783 for service as a privateer.

[5] After the Treaty of Paris brought a formal end to the American Revolutionary War, the vessel was refitted for commercial purposes.

[6] The first American merchant vessel to enter Chinese waters left New York harbor on Washington's birthday, February 22, 1784.

President Washington bought a set of Chinese porcelain tableware from the ship.

[7] The ship's captain John Green (1736–1796) was a former U.S. naval officer, its two business agents (supercargos), Samuel Shaw (1754–1794) and Thomas Randall (1723–1797), were former officers in the U.S. Continental Army, and its syndicate of owners, including Robert Morris (1734–1806) and Colonel Samuel Selden Miles (1739-1805), were some of the richest men in the new nation.