The people of China were finely adorned as they celebrated their New Year; the Chinese were seen from Friday, going to the shops of their own countrymen to purchase new year’s items, from the day until evening, and purchasing all sorts of flowers, like crown flower, koniako [?]³, chrysanthemum, and some other blossoms to decorated their tables.

When the hands of the clock reached the point where the year staggered away and the New Year was born, the popping sounds of the firecrackers reverberated along with their huge pu ie [some kind of shooting firework?]⁴ on Nuuanu Avenue between the streets of King and Hotel. Amidst that popping along with the deafening huge pu ie that were lined up straight in a row; as the Chinese of the shops in the area were lighting those huge pu ie, one of the pu ie went off and flew straight through the entrance of the hat shop of Uyeda on the Ewa side, and broke the glass without this misfortune being noticed while the activities were going on, and it was with the coming of day that this damage was discovered by someone, and seen also was the ie of that pu ie lying on the floor. The one good thing was that the ie that went inside was not on fire, if not there would have been a “side dish” to the new year of the Chinese, a house fire.

¹”Konohi” is the Hawaiian word for Chinese New Year, coming from “kong-hee” [恭喜]…
²Aina Pua [Land of Flowers] is a poetic name for China.
³I don’t know what kind of flower a “koniako” is.
⁴I have yet to find out exactly what type of firework a “pu ie” is.

(Kuokoa Home Rula, 1/23/1912, p. 1)

Kuokoa Home Rula, Buke X, Helu 8, Aoao 1. Feberuari 23, 1912.