Reading older Chinese magazines

Question

I'm at a stage where I'm able to read novels, including the ones by Zhang Ailing, Bai Xianyong and the like. I have now reached the point where I need to start venturing into (somewhat) early 20th century magazines, for future research. Many of them seem to be in classical Chinese and lack punctuation. My goal is being able to read these magazines without too much effort, rather than ancient texts.

I have attached a screenshot from on of the magazines. I have no problems transcribing it, but I'm pretty clueless about what it actually tries to tell me. Do you have any recommendations on where to move on from here? Are Classical Chinese grammar books (with usage examples from ancient texts) the best way forward? Part of me thinks these articles are closer to modern Chinese than it might seem, and that it's more down to venturing into a new genre that is causing me trouble.

My transcription of the first four lines:

雲南鐵路概說 （續）

前述各端已將本鐵路之大概情形報告完畢要之本路對於雲南省產業開發一層依現在之狀態觀之實無若何之貢獻法人現今對於中國政府反取謙遜態度幸中國人能以禮相待即鐵路軍警之對於旅客及從事員等亦極少發生橫暴或搗亂等事惟嫌運價太貴且通過發領時有極麻煩之手續旅行及託運貨物等諸多不便故不得不想在中國本國境內自築一鐵路以求便利。

Answer 1

雲南鐵路概說 （續）

you missed the most important snippet: 楊得任譯

the quoted text is a translation of foreign language text into chinese, in traditional script, a hybrid of literary and vernacular.

first of all, you need to chop (句讀) it correctly, before comprehension.

雲南鐵路概說 （續）

楊得任譯

前述各端・已將本鐵路之大概情形報告完畢・要之・本路對於雲南省產業開發一層・依現在之狀態・觀之實無若何之貢獻・法人現今對於中國政府反取謙遜態度・幸中國人能以禮相待・即鐵路軍警之對於旅客及從事員等・亦極少發生橫暴或搗亂等事・惟嫌運價太貴・且通過法領時有極麻煩之手續・旅行及託運貨物等諸多不便・故不得不想在中國本國境內・自築一鐵路以求便利。

reverse reasoning:

“要之“ - in summary

“無若何之貢獻” - without any contribution

“法人” - french people

“法領” - territory “controled” by french government, aka french colony 😼

the logic, style and the “flow” of the text, is according to western grammar, imo

have fun 😸

Answer 2

Chinese language was in transition from classical Chinese to modern Chinese in early 20th century. See New Culture Movement. This is why your example looks like both classical and modern Chinese.

To be honest, reading articles like this is not easy for me as well, but here are my suggestions:

• Add punctuation. This is the first step to understand classical Chinese.
• Understand the words.
  • Take a closer look and you'll see most words are in modern Chinese. Your Chinese level should be enough for these. Example: 云南、铁路、前述、大概、情形、报告、完毕……
  • Some words (e.g. conjunctions) are from classical Chinese. Use a dictionary. Grammar books may also help here. Example: 要之 = 总之 = in short
  • Some weird words were only used at that period of time. Use Google/Stack Exchange. Example: 亚美利加 = America
• Guess for the unknown part and try to understand the whole sentences.

I see several mistakes in your transcription, so maybe the difficulty also come from those traditional Chinese characters? Or they are just some typos, I'm not sure.