Thames Town

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Thames Town is the name in English 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, English style pubs, restaurants and even Costa Coffee shops, but no Tescos yet! Some of the architecture has been directly copied from buildings found in England, these include the church which is copied from one in Clifton, Bristol and a pub and fish and chip shop have been copied from buildings in Lyme Regis. The town serves as an attractive location for Chinese Wedding days. The picturesque church and main square makes an idyllic backdrop for many Chinese Wedding photos. This development is part of a series of towns which imitate western style towns. There are already Italian and German Towns. There is thought to be plans other themed towns.

The town, which is complete, has been designed to house approximately 10,000 people and has cost 5 billion yuan to construct.

[edit] Developers in Charge

• Chief Developer： Shanghai Songjiang New Town Developing and Construction Co. Ltd
• Developer： Shanghai Henghe Real Estate Co. Ltd
• Supervising Architects: Atkins

[edit] 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.