What is the formal/polite way to begin and end an email in Chinese?

Question

In English, formal emails, e.g. emails to a professor, often start with "Hi", "Hello", "Dear" followed by the receiver's name (and title, if applicable). The ending is usually "Best", "Regards", "Sincerely" followed by the writer's name. Does Chinese have similar constructs? Or does it have more/less strict rules?

Answer 1

The traditional Chinese letter is very complex.It has many honorifics that vary greatly for different receivers.

But today,most people's traditional education is insufficient to write these letter.

For email,people tend to write simply and practicably。

Habitual formation。

example:

周老师：
    您好！
    我是Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, 
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna a...
    这个Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, 
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna a...
    敬祝！
安康！

                                                       学生 Jacob  敬上
                                                       2015.04.10

example 2:

陈英俊先生 道鉴
    去年入先生门下，承蒙恩师言传身教，宿愿得偿。中文潦草，敬启夫子。
     。。。。。。
     。。。。。。。。
     。。。。。。。。。。。

    敬请
 教安 
                                                        授业  张三顿首
                                                        乙未 二月廿二

Answer 2

I will give you a example, explanation in the brackets, see if it's useful to you.

this is a email I sent to my client, I think this format is kind of formal

  孔经理：(he's a manager, and his family name is Kong, it's impolite to call    somebody's name in a formal letter)

  blablabla

  此致(this word means "I finish my word here" or "this is the end of this letter", you should always use this word as an ending word in a personal letter or )

  My name

 2015.xx.xx

Hope it's helpful

此致

Answer 3

安康！(ankang)) means 'may you enjoy of a good health'; seems rather correct for a final salutation inside an email. Specialists can tell much better of course.