Viewed from one angle, a hopeful tableau of Chinese-American relations unfolded over the weekend on a pier in Red Hook, Brooklyn: American and Chinese pyrotechnicians loading three barges with equipment for a major fireworks display in honor of the Lunar New Year, using Chinese-made explosives and American-made hardware.
Viewed from another angle, however, the scene was nothing more than a bunch of guys doing a hard job in the bitter cold. With gusts sending the wind chill into double-digits below zero, Phil Grucci, who was overseeing the operation, was not going to expend too much energy finding deeper meaning in the situation.
“They’re all saying, ‘What the heck we doing out here?’ ” he said on Sunday, laughing a cloud of vapor.
The fireworks display, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, is part of a series of events over the next several days to commemorate the Lunar New Year, which falls on Thursday. The Central Academy of Fine Arts, China’s largest art academy, as well as several prominent New York cultural groups including the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center and the New-York Historical Society are involved in the celebrations this year.
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On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Huang dropped by the pier with a small entourage that included a videographer.
“We came to check that everything is good,” Mr. Huang said through an assistant, Lyu Xiaozhuo. “And we think everything is good.”
Lunch arrived, and the barge crew sought shelter from the cold in a double-wide trailer, where they shed layers of outerwear and grabbed paper plates for the food: large cheese pizzas and Chinese takeout.
A version of this article appears in print on February 17, 2015, on page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Another Link to China For a Fireworks Family . Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
