There is a long standing gap in the field of politeness studies, namely, the exploration of Turkish and Chinese politeness systems before the modern era. This book looks at (im)politeness in Turkey and China, and at Turko-Sino relations, from the 10th century to just before the modern day.Linguistic politeness research has become one of the most actively developing fields in pragmatic and sociolinguistics studies. Brown and Levinson's seminal 1987 study launched an active interest, owing much to the prominent role of politeness and impoliteness in both our daily interactions and our understanding of the 'cultural other'. Despite all of this, no comparative intercultural diachronic analysis has been published so far.The work explores politeness and the larger communicative situation in empires at the two ends of the Silk Road, which were at one point the gates of cultural exchange between the East and the West. It provides insights into the ideological, semantic and the discursive aspects of politeness in both China and Turkey.