<P> The U.S. flag was brought to the city of Canton (Guǎngzhōu) in China in 1784 by the merchant ship Empress of China, which carried a cargo of ginseng . There it gained the designation "Flower Flag" (Chinese: 花旗; pinyin: huāqí; Cantonese Yale: fākeì). According to a pseudonymous account first published in the Boston Courier and later retold by author and U.S. naval officer George H. Preble: </P> <P> When the thirteen stripes and stars first appeared at Canton, much curiosity was excited among the people . News was circulated that a strange ship had arrived from the further end of the world, bearing a flag "as beautiful as a flower". Every body went to see the kwa kee chuen (花旗 船; Fākeìsyùhn), or "flower flagship". This name at once established itself in the language, and America is now called the kwa kee kwoh (花旗 國; Fākeìgwok), the "flower flag country"--and an American, kwa kee kwoh yin (花旗 國人; Fākeìgwokyàhn)--"flower flag countryman"--a more complimentary designation than that of "red headed barbarian"--the name first bestowed upon the Dutch . </P> <P> In the above quote, the Chinese words are written phonetically based on spoken Cantonese . The names given were common usage in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries . Other Asian nations have equivalent terms for America, for example Vietnamese: Hoa Kỳ ("Flower Flag"). Chinese now refer to the United States as simplified Chinese: 美国; traditional Chinese: 美國; pinyin: Měiguó . Měi is short for Měilìjiān (simplified Chinese: 美利坚; traditional Chinese: 美利堅, phono - semantic matching of "American") and "guó" means "country", so this name is unrelated to the flag . However, the "flower flag" terminology persists in some places today: for example, American Ginseng is called simplified Chinese: 花旗 参; traditional Chinese: 花旗 參; literally: "flower flag ginseng" in Chinese, and Citibank, which opened a branch in China in 1902, is known as 花旗 银行; "Flower Flag Bank". </P> <P> The U.S. flag took its first trip around the world in 1787--90 on board the Columbia . William Driver, who coined the phrase "Old Glory", took the U.S. flag around the world in 1831--32 . The flag attracted the notice of Japanese when an oversized version was carried to Yokohama by the steamer Great Republic as part of a round - the - world journey in 1871 . </P>

What does the original american flag look like