Rong Chen is Professor at Dalian University of Foreign Languages and Professor Emeritus at California State University, San Bernardino. He has published more than sixty articles in pragmatics, discourse analysis, cognitive linguistics, sociolinguistics, phonology, semantics, and stylistics. He has authored, edited, and translated seven books, including English Inversions (2003, de Gruyter) and Toward a Motivation Model of Pragmatics (2022, de Gruyter).

'Rong Chen provides a thorough, though-provoking and reader-friendly overview of Chinese politeness, which is a fundamental phenomenon to study for all those who want to understand the fine dynamics of Chinese language use. Chinese Politeness is a real treat for both politeness scholars and Sinologists.' Dániel Z. Kádár, Dalian University of Foreign Languages, Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics & University of Maribor

• 1. Pragmatics, politeness, and Chinese politeness; 2. Hierarchy and harmony: roots of Chinese face and politeness; 3. Chinese face; 4. Chinese politeness and theories of politeness; 5. Synchronic consistency and variation; 6. Diachronic stability and change; 7. In comparison with East Asian languages; 8. In comparison with English: an east-west divide?; 9. Politeness theories; Epilogue.

Rong Chen is Professor at Dalian University of Foreign Languages and Professor Emeritus at California State University, San Bernardino. He has published more than sixty articles in pragmatics, discourse analysis, cognitive linguistics, sociolinguistics, phonology, semantics, and stylistics. He has authored, edited, and translated seven books, including English Inversions (2003, de Gruyter) and Toward a Motivation Model of Pragmatics (2022, de Gruyter).

'Rong Chen provides a thorough, though-provoking and reader-friendly overview of Chinese politeness, which is a fundamental phenomenon to study for all those who want to understand the fine dynamics of Chinese language use. Chinese Politeness is a real treat for both politeness scholars and Sinologists.' Dániel Z. Kádár, Dalian University of Foreign Languages, Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics & University of Maribor

• 1. Pragmatics, politeness, and Chinese politeness; 2. Hierarchy and harmony: roots of Chinese face and politeness; 3. Chinese face; 4. Chinese politeness and theories of politeness; 5. Synchronic consistency and variation; 6. Diachronic stability and change; 7. In comparison with East Asian languages; 8. In comparison with English: an east-west divide?; 9. Politeness theories; Epilogue.

Rong Chen is Professor at Dalian University of Foreign Languages and Professor Emeritus at California State University, San Bernardino. He has published more than sixty articles in pragmatics, discourse analysis, cognitive linguistics, sociolinguistics, phonology, semantics, and stylistics. He has authored, edited, and translated seven books, including English Inversions (2003, de Gruyter) and Toward a Motivation Model of Pragmatics (2022, de Gruyter).

'Rong Chen provides a thorough, though-provoking and reader-friendly overview of Chinese politeness, which is a fundamental phenomenon to study for all those who want to understand the fine dynamics of Chinese language use. Chinese Politeness is a real treat for both politeness scholars and Sinologists.' Dániel Z. Kádár, Dalian University of Foreign Languages, Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics & University of Maribor

• 1. Pragmatics, politeness, and Chinese politeness; 2. Hierarchy and harmony: roots of Chinese face and politeness; 3. Chinese face; 4. Chinese politeness and theories of politeness; 5. Synchronic consistency and variation; 6. Diachronic stability and change; 7. In comparison with East Asian languages; 8. In comparison with English: an east-west divide?; 9. Politeness theories; Epilogue.