"This is one of those areas where I wonder whether the meaning is clearer in a Chinese context, where social skills and etiquette and everything are so nuanced."

Ooooh, it would be cool if this is the case! Because the entire time I see this tiny, tiny difference between knowing how you're supposed to act around people vs. knowing if other people's very specific social behaviors are normal, but I can't flesh it out at all, to the point that it's not really there when I think about it, but I still feel the vibe. So if it had something to do with cultural norms, then maybe these things can be considered more significantly different and I just don't have the context to understand how/why.

"Or Cheng Xinyang did most of the technology side of their lab work, and Shen Wei made up for that with precision and dexterity in other areas. :-)"

I don't even have any headcanons for this topic, but this is adorable and I love it. :D