Pruning chinese lantern

 My mother has a chinese lantern tree, and was wondering when to prune it.
After looking it up on the net, everywhere said to prune it in early spring
(now).  But the problem is, it's starting to flower now.  Do you prune it,
even though it's flowering?  Or is it flowering early, and it should have
been pruned before it flowered?  Or should it be left till after it's
flowered?
I'm in Australia, by the way, it's early spring here.

Thanks

Jen