Writing Chinese Letters
From UniLang Wiki
Introduction
In writing Chinese letters one has to note that there are two main categories of Chinese letters - Formal and Informal letters. In Chinese formal letters are known categorically as 公函 while informal letters are known categorically as �?函. Both are written in a different manner and format depending on who you are representing and who you are writing to. In Chinese letters being formal and polite when you need to is very important. Letters should be written as close to a format as is possible.
�?函
(informal letters)
- 写信者的地�?�
- XXXXXXXXXX
- XXXXXX-103
�?明：
你好�?最近别�?�无�?��?�？。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。
。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。
。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。
。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。
�?你
身体�?�康
- 王�?红 上
- X年X月X日
Explaning the Format
Above you have seen a rough write-out of the format of informal letters. 写信者的地�?� refers to the address of the sender of the letter. The Xes and -103 after it refer to the address itself and should be replaced by the address of the sender. The address should be aligned to the right of the paper and if one is using squared paper specially for writing Chinese, it should by standard start eight squares before the end of the line, i.e. count eight squares from the last square of the first line you will be writing your address on and write the address starting from the eighth square.
After writing the address, leave a line and write down the addressee's name, preferably without the surname / last name. Put a colon after it. Go on to the next line, leave two spaces, and start writing your letter. Often, an informal letter begins with a short greeting asking how the person is and mentioning a little about what has gone on before diving into the main purpose of letter.
Finish the main text by stating 我就在此�??笔 (lit. I rest my pen now). Leave a line and write down �?你 with a spacing of two squares in front. This means "[I] Wish you". This is standard fare and it's a way of closing letters by blessing the other person with lucky words. On the next line do NOT leave two squares and write down the blessing words of luck, usually four-character proverbs or idioms.
Leave a line and counting seven squares from the right side of the paper in, write down your name (surname included), leave a space of a square and write 上. This means the letter was written by you. On the next line count again seven squares from the right-hand side of the paper in and write down the year, month, and day in that order. It is incorrect to write the three in any other order. One can choose to write using Chinese-character numbers or Arabic numerals. Often the Arabic numerals are used because you can fit them into seven squares. Here's how - two Arabic numerals go into one square. So the date "12th of October 2004" would come out as "20 04 年 10 月 12 日".
