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I've recently been writing a lot of letters in Mandarin and I have several questions regarding the form.
孔世茂 [My Chinese Name]
上
Is this acceptable? What are some other endings for letters?
Thanks for your time!
I think those are generally fine for normal purposes, especially if you're emailing. Traditional etiquette has substantially declined with email use. 亲爱 is quite a bit more personal than the equivalent English "Dear xxx" though, so you could replace that with just a greeting, e.g. "王先生您好
But since you asked for "proper etiquette"... Here's a brief rundown of the main points for a proper Chinese letter. Though I've left out some less important sections, so for truly official purposes you'd want to consult a real style guide.
For obvious reasons hardly anyone writes to actual friends or family in such complicated manner, although government agencies / companies/ wedding invitations and other formal occasions still adhere to these styles.
This section is similar to English letter writing. Use an appropriate title e.g. "President Huang" or "Ms Wong" or "Mother". Do not include names for elders in your immediate family.
You might think of this as sort of like "Dear " in English, except this comes after the recipient's name+title. Choose an appropriate one from below:
尊鑒(common), 膝下(common), 膝前, 道鑒(common), 函丈, 壇席, 講座, 尊前,尊鑒, 賜鑒賜鑒(common), 尊前, 尊鑒, 鈞鑒, 尊右, 懿鑒(women only)硯右, 硯席, 文几, 文席大鑒(common), 惠鑒(common), 台鑒, 左右, 足下, 閣下, 雅鑒知之, 知悉鑒(common), 青鑒,青覽, 入目, 入覽, 收覽, 如見, 如晤, 如握, 如面, 收覽, 收閱, 收讀, 閱悉, 知悉, 見字幕下, 麾下, 鈞鑒. 鈞座勛鑒, 鈞鑒, 鈞座, 台座, 台鑒講座, 座右, 塵次. 有道, 著席, 撰席, 史席方丈, 道鑒, 有道法鑒, 壇次道鑒儷鑒禮席, 禮鑒, 苫次, 矜鑒And last but not the least:
: <--- yes, a colonYou can either pick an appropriate one based on recipient, or based on the nature of your letter.
耑肅敬覆, 耑此奉覆, 肅函奉覆, 耑此敬覆, 匆此布覆敬申賀悃, 肅表賀忱, 用申賀意恭陳唁意, 肅此上慰, 敬申哀悃肅誌謝忱, 敬此鳴謝, 耑鳴謝悃謹此, 肅此, 肅此上達, 敬此馳稟, 耑肅奉稟專此, 耑此, 特此, 草此, 耑此奉達, 匆此布臆, 特此奉聞, 草此奉達Or:
This follows the previous section immediately. You can pick one based on who the recipient is.
敬請 | 福安, 叩請 | 金安敬請 | 道安, 恭敬 | 教安, 恭請 | 誨安, 敬請 | 講安敬請 | 鈞安, 恭敬 | 崇安, ``敬頌 | 崇祺,恭請 | 禔安`敬請 | 大安, 順頌 | 台祺, 敬候 | 近祉, 順候 | 起居, 順頌 | 時綏順問 | 近祺, 即問 | 近好, 順頌 | 日祉敬請 | 戎安, 肅請 | 捷安, 肅頌 | 戎祺敬請 | 鈞安',敬請 | 勛安,祇請 | 政安`即頌 | 文祺, 即頌 | 文綏, 敬請 | 學安敬請 |著安, 順請 | 撰安敬請 | 籌安、順候 | 財安敬請 | 旅安敬請 | 儷安恭請 | 痊安, 敬祝| 早痊, 敬請 | 愈安, 即請 | 衛安Or choose one based on the season/time:
敬請 | 春安, 順頌 | 春祉敬請 | 夏安, 此頌 | 暑綏並候 | 秋綏, 即請 | 秋安敬請 | 冬安, 敬頌 | 冬綏即頌 | 晨安, 即請 | 早安此請 | 午安即頌 | 晚安即請 | 刻安, 順候 | 日祉, 即候 | 時祉Or based on the purpose of the letter:
恭請 | 燕喜,恭賀 | 大喜, 恭請 | 喜安恭賀 | 年禧, 恭賀 | 新禧, 即頌 | 歲禧敬請 | 禮安, 順候 | 素履, 此候 | 孝履, 順問 | 苫次Note that these are supposed to be broken int two lines; i.e.:
bala bala bala bala。肅此上達。敬請
福安
Also, notice how most of these reuses the same set of perhaps 3-4 phrases for the first half. For these the situation-specific content lies in the second half of the sentence. (the part that comes on a new line). Which means you can mix the first half a bit for variation if you wish.
Can be either personal name, or the family name plus personal name. This should be prefixed with your self-reference, in smaller font. The self-reference should complement with the title of the recipient you used in the first section; i.e. if you used Smith 吾師 to address the recipient, then here you'd say 受業 TrustedDeveloper. Other common ones are:
孫, 孫女兒, 女生弟, 妹This goes directly after your name from the previous section; i.e. on the same line. It is analogous to saying "from " in English. Choose an appropriate one from below:
敬稟, 叩稟, 拜稟, 肅稟, 謹稟, 叩上敬上, 謹上, 謹稟, 拜上、謹肅, 敬肅, 敬啟, 謹啟拜啟, 敬啟, 啟, 上, 白, 謹啟, 謹白, 手啟, 手上, 頓首, 上言, 拜言字, 諭, 手諭, 手示, 手草, 草示Alternatively, when the letter is a reply:
復, 手復, 謹復, 肅復1.It is a little wired to use 亲爱的 in Chinese letter. You could use "敬爱的" or "尊敬的". But if you write letter to your close friend or your lover, you could use "亲爱的".
3.It is ok to end your letter like that.
You could get more information about write Chinese letter here:
