Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-01-28
CHINAMEN ARE TO
CELEBRATE new
YEARS QUEUELEsS
0rientals Plan Demonstration in
Honor of Event-Fireworks
to Play a Part.

Five hundred green dragons rear
themselves rampant on yellow fields
beneath five hundred blood-red suns
and the odor OF sandalwood is abroad In
'Newark's Chinatown. Orientals, with
the proverbial almond eyes; scurry
back and forth visiting among the tea
stores and the chop suey layouts and
the laundries, visiting and jabbering
perpetually In unholy tongue and only
stopping to bow profoundly when they
pass a picture of the great Confucius.
Tonight and for a week of nights that
part of the town near the intersection
of Lafayette and Mulberry streets viii
be lit with myriad of brilliant-hued
paper lanterns--and there'll be constant
feasting on outlandish food and more
outlandlsh wines One feature of their
celebration of commercial tinge will
be the payment of all debts as their
customs prescribe.
And the reason for 1t all Is that a new
year in the 4100th century of the CHI
nese calendar will have come Into being
at midnight tonight, and that the Gel
estials will put in the week celebrating
the greatest holiday Of their race and
land. Incidentally it will be the only
time in the year that you'll get a FREQ
hand-out from your Chinese laundry
He'll have a free lunch OF nuts, fruits
and wine spread out on q table In his
shop from tonight until next Saturday
night, and IL you care much for that
kind of provender you ara hereby ad-
vised to take next weeks laundry 10
him in instalments Of collar or so a
day
May Clip Queues Now.
Your laundryman will probably be-
come wise to this imposition on his
annual treat early, but he probably
won't show the least resentment, be-
cause this year is an extra happy
new year for him-he's just received
word from home that it's the fashion
now to cut off queues. Up to a little
while ago II was considered sacri-
legious to cut II off. or even thin 1t out.
The very first thing two hundred
Orientals did was to shingle off the
dead weight Of pigtails and put them
into storage, and the next thing they
did was to plan a celebration of the
new queueless epoch by making the
New Years celebration such a fervid
affair as the local bailiwick had never
known before.
Prepare for Celebration.
They hadn't been going to send up
any fireworks this year, but, on ac-
count of the good news from China,
every storekeeper In the district has
fitted himself out with eight or ten
dollars worth of fireworks and fire.
crackers, and they're going to send
them shooting from the Mulberry Ar
cade the very minute midnight comes
tonight-unless the police put down
their feet.
Mayor Charlie Ying, whose Amer
ican name Is King & Co, of the Arcade
Tea Store told a STAR reporter this
morning that already most of the
Cinnamon had slipped their pigtails
and that even the laundrymen were
coming to 1t rapidly. He said that in
the course of a year he didn't think |
there'd be a single queue in Newark, |
except that worn by Mrs. Willie Hong |
the wife of the rival for mayoralty
honors, and the only woman in China
town
After the fireworks have been set off |
at midnight the Chnatowners will fur
ther celebrate the arrival of the new |
year by a series of interminable ban
quets, which begin simultaneously in
all the stores and shops of the brethren |
and keep going through an uninter-
rupted round of visits all week long. |
If Charlie Sing isn't there with the |
laundry this week you may put 1t |
down that he ate too many birds nests
or fell for an overdose of tangerine |
wine.
Meanwhile, in preparation. the smil-
ing, slant-eyed men are busy as bees |
filling up their shops and stores with
decorations. Everywhere is the dragon
flag of yellow, draped about more or
less authentic pictures of Confucius,
and everywhere the funny urns of |
silver send forth the strong musk odor
or the burning sandalwood ash.
'It has been a good year for China
men in Newark" said Mayor Ying to-
day, so we celebrate big this time,
and for the first year in 41O0 we eat
together without queues on the most Of
our heads"