For the most part I think that what we're all talking about here is less about cultural colonialism (which is usually an extension of, sometimes not an obvious one and usually including elements of resistance to, power relations) than it is about cultural arrogance. This is regularly engaged in by those in a better position vis-a-vis Power. Confucianism was not so much a creation of 'the Chinese' as it was a creation of those in power in China over a long period of time. National cultures, such as that of China (very broad generalization here - yes of course there are geographic, sociological and other differences) or Bulgaria or anywhere have localized character because of the relative autonomy of those who rule. and/or own, nations, and because of localized adaptations determined already by geography, past historical experience etc. Cultural 'colonization' - perhaps not the best term for this phenomenon - occurs, for example, when you go to work for a company with its own 'company culture' - it's the way you adapt, or try to adapt, to the power of thos who run the place. They are interested in keeping and extending their power/wealth, and the culture of the company (or country) is the adaptive response of those who work for them and thus allow them to do it - to advance their own interests.
Anyway, cultural arrogance is present all over the place, and entails condescension and manipulation, and it is really both negative and obvious when the arrogant don't make much of an effort to understand the cultural practices etc. - including their origins - of others before they judge them to be either good or bad. And I've observed plenty of it in Kunming. The point is to get people to learn something before they think they know what it is. I think mmkunming's examples are very good examples of this, though in themselves they don't spell out cultural colonialism so much as they do cultural arrogance. It's easy for those who arrive from outside the local culture to remain ignorant, because they (probably necessarily) show up with false assumptions and nonlocal habits and tastes. Fine - but they are the ones with the great opportunity to learn, because they are surrounded by a sea of possibilities. One doesn't have to automatically adopt or reject them, but is it too much to ask that people make just a little effort to understand before they judge? And this readiness to judge other cultures as inferior is certainly very much a part of the overall culture of many from the West, thanks to centuries of imperialism and domination. Frankly, I'd make the same comment about many assumptions current in Han-Chinese culture vis-a-vis those Chinese who are non-Han - the Chinese empires did not grow out of an ideology of love for the people, that is spin-doctor bs everywhere - those who are into Power & Wealth are into it for its own sake.

Stopping here, not sure if this is solidly logical, hope you get the gist of what I mean, and I'm probably wandering from the point, which is that cultural arrogance is what we're often dealing with here, as well as the powers that be, on both local and global scales (and it is the global arrangements that are becoming more and more relevant, while we are encouraged to think and judges locally, nationalistically, etc.
Divide and conquer - didn't begin with the Romans or stop with the end of the British Empire. Wake up & smell the coffee (or, uh, tea - minor differences worthy of tolerance and respect, certainly not worth fighting over).

@Dazzer: a great number of families never earn more than 4k. Anyway, there are still the incomes of mom & pop to consider, at whatever stage of life, and how they live on them. Finally, all I meant to say was that it's possible to exaggerate the degree to which Chinese family solidarity makes up the difference between what Chinese people need as incomes and what foreigners here think they need - details are bound to differ in individual cases.

@Tonyoad, I won't hold you to the wording of your comment because you may well have been trying to say something else, but your implication that a whole culture can be either 'right' or 'wrong' doesn't make sense.
As for firm boundaries being necessary for any discussion of culture, that's not necessary, nor is it realistic - lots of things, including 'Chinese culture', have fuzzy boundaries, and placing them in absolutist categories is merely a matter of useful (sometimes, sometimes not) generalizations. Example: where, exactly, does the Caribbean meet the Atlantic?

Perhaps there's a zen of riding in taxis - I seriously doubt if George Castanza's father had mastered it - and damn I'm glad HE didn't move to Kunming, there would be massive taxi wars, hundreds of cabbies trying, quite justifiably, to murder him.

@Serrure: Yep, I'm selective about where I order spaghetti. But then see what you get ordering chao mien in the US in most Chinese restaurants. So US food is better in the US, Turkish food in Turkey, Chinese food in China. No surprise.