From China’s Past: The ‘Empress of China’ and the beginning of U.S.-China trade

New York City is in the midst of one of its mildest winters ever, with its latest first snow ever, and even that just a dusting. Such was not the case in 1784, when an exceptionally cold February kept the Hudson River and much of the harbor frozen.Among the ships kept in port by the cold was a 360-ton schooner named the Empress of China. While her captain, John Green, waited anxiously, “the