Just as what a Carioca would call “personality” may seem like immodesty to a stranger, that same stranger, when in contact with Chinese people, might find their modesty strange, as it sometimes seems exaggerated or irrational. It turns out that, in both cases, such impressions would be false and would say nothing about the individuals, other than that they are in harmony with local customs. Here, we can see how much confusion contact with other peoples can generate, and how little we can know about individuals when we ignore the rules of behavior that prevail in their region.