I’m pretty sure that question mark on the second to last line is anachronistic. I don’t know exactly when western punctuation was incorporated into traditional Chinese script, but I’m almost certain it was well after 1870. The character at the end of that line, before the question mark, is “ma”, which, by itself, turns a statement into a question.
I don’t think it’s 嗎, looks more like 吧 to me, which also has question like properties. But you’re definitely right about the question mark not being included until much later. The character alone says it’s a question.
I’m pretty sure that question mark on the second to last line is anachronistic. I don’t know exactly when western punctuation was incorporated into traditional Chinese script, but I’m almost certain it was well after 1870. The character at the end of that line, before the question mark, is “ma”, which, by itself, turns a statement into a question.
I don’t think it’s 嗎, looks more like 吧 to me, which also has question like properties. But you’re definitely right about the question mark not being included until much later. The character alone says it’s a question.
I’ll happily take your word for it; it’s been close to 20 years since my Mandarin classes in college. XD