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Formality as a frame, not a feeling
The thing to take from this lesson is that Chinese formality is structural. An English writer produces a formal letter by choosing weightier words throughout and judging the tone as they go; a Chinese writer fills a frame. 尊敬的 X：, body, 此致, 敬礼, name 敬上, date. Get the frame right and a plainly-worded body is entirely acceptable. Get the frame wrong and no amount of careful vocabulary rescues it. This is good news for a learner, because frames are learnable in an afternoon in a way that tonal judgement is not. It also explains something that puzzles foreigners about Chinese official documents: they can seem simultaneously extremely formal and quite blunt. The formality is carried by the opening and closing conventions, which leaves the middle free to say the thing directly. Where you will actually need this: a letter to a landlord, a visa or residence-permit application, a leave request at work, a complaint to a company, a letter of thanks after somebody has done you a real favour, and the covering note on a job application. In most of these, the Chinese expectation is that you state the matter, state what you are asking for, and stop. Long preambles explaining your feelings about the situation are not read as warmth. Two cultural notes that matter more than the vocabulary. First, the request should be specific and bounded — 恳请您在本周内答复 is better than a general appeal, because it gives the recipient something they can say yes to. Second, a formal letter in China often follows rather than replaces a conversation: you ask in person or on WeChat, agreement is reached, and the letter records it. Sending a cold formal letter to open a matter can read as escalation. If you have a relationship with the person, use it first, and let the letter do what the letter is for. Finally, keep a template. Chinese professionals do, and nobody regards reuse as lazy — the frame is meant to be reused. Write one good letter with 王老师's structure, save it, and change the body.