CHINESE POLITENESS

Chinese publishers, like French publishers, receive a considerable number of manuscripts.
But to reject those that don't suit them, they employ amusing circumlocutions.
Consider this letter addressed by the editor of the magazine Tain Koo to an unknown author:

"Most noble brother of the Sun and the Moon, I bow deeply before you, I kiss the earth before your feet, and I ask permission to live and speak." "Your precious manuscript has flooded our eyes and minds with splendor. We read it with enthusiasm. We have never before examined a work comparable to yours in its accuracy of vision, breadth, and depth of knowledge.
If we were to publish it, our editor would be obliged to consider it the model of its genre and never give his readers other works inferior to yours.
Therefore, trembling with emotion, we return your manuscript to you on behalf of the entire editorial team, which proclaims itself your eternal slave!..."

This letter must certainly have caused great pleasure to its recipient. But perhaps he would have preferred a modest insertion.

L'Avenir.