Bing Lee's “Empress Voyage” commemorates the pioneering expedition of the American merchant ship, Empress of China, which in 1794 returned to New York harbor filled with silk, tea, and porcelain (commonly called china, due to its origin). Through the artist's lighthearted use of Chinese-derived icons, the tiles illustrate aspects of the then-new trade with Asia and celebrates today's Chinatown. On the platforms, interlocking teapots incorporate the Chinese symbol for "good life." Other symbols, on the station's upper level, are variations on the symbols for "Asia," "quality," and "cycle." As trains arrive, debarking passengers are given a choice of reading "Canal Street" in English or the Chinese characters for "Chinatown." "I want to give the viewers art that reminds them of history, but also speaks directly to them," says Lee, "something meaningful but also playful."

Bing Lee was born in China and grew up in Hong Kong. He holds a BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design and a graduate degree at Syracuse University. Since Lee initiated the ongoing visual vocabulary project “Pictodiary” in 1983, he has been committed to working on his daily iconographic journal. Lee’s works have been exhibited in art festivals, galleries and museums internationally. He is a recipient of several awards, including the Fulbright Foundation Fellowship, New York State Council on the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and Ford Foundation. His site-specific public art projects include the Midwest Express Center in Milwaukee, Kowloon Tong Station in Hong Kong, Public School 88 & Public School 242 public schools in New York. Lee is founding member of Tomato Grey, Godzilla-Asian American Arts Network, Epoxy Art Group in New York, and Visual Art Society in Hong Kong.