Speaking of personal space - a friend of ours (who, incidentally, is of Chinese background) was transferred from her company's New York City office to an office in suburban New Jersey. She noticed that in New York, people crowded into the elevators just like going into the subway at rush hour, jammed up against each other. In New Jersey, even if there was room, the people wouldn't get on the elevator beyond a certain level of crowding - even when, in some cases, she would speak up and point out that there was enough room. Then she "got it" - different amount of personal space than in crowded Manhattan!
Who knew people were more polite in Jersey? Guess Manhattanites are used to being jammed together. I love NYC but never experienced elevator intimacy. Yuk, I’d freak out, as I almost did on the Eiffel Tower, where I was beginning to feel like an endangered species.