Thames Town is the English name for a new town in Songjiang, about 30 km from central Shanghai, China and situated on the Yangtze River. It is named after the River Thames in England, the United Kingdom. The architecture both imitates and is influenced by classic English market town styles. There are cobbled streets, Victorian terraces, corner shops—empty as in an abandoned film set. Some of the architecture has been directly copied from buildings found in England, including the church (copied from one in Clifton, Bristol) and a pub and fish and chip shop (copied from buildings in Lyme Regis, Dorset).
The picturesque church and main square makes an idyllic backdrop for many Chinese Wedding photos.
Songjiang City is one of nine new towns being built outside of Shanghai as part of the 1 city-9 towns initiative passed by the Shanghai Planning Commission in 2001. All 9 new towns are themed: Swedish, English, Italian, Spanish, American, Dutch, German, traditional Chinese, and an ecological town called Lingang.
The town, which is complete, was designed to house approximately 10,000 people and cost 5 billion yuan to construct.
Developers in Charge
- Chief Developer： Shanghai Songjiang New Town Developing and Construction Co. Ltd
- Developer： Shanghai Henghe Real Estate Co. Ltd
- Supervising Architects: Atkins
External links
- Thames Town (official site)
- Pubs, privet and parody as China builds little Britain by the Yangtse , The Guardian, 16 August 2006.
- Shanghai surprise ... a new town in ye olde English style, The Guardian, 2 June 2004.
- Ye Olde Shanghai, Time, 14 February 2005.
- Google-Maps
- Thames Town [Documentary Photography series by Dave Wyatt], July 2008
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