Thames Town () is a

new town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

Songjiang District Songjiang is a suburban district (formerly a county) of Shanghai. It has a land area of and a population of 1,582,398 (2010). Owing to a long history, Songjiang is known as the cultural root of Shanghai. Songjiang Town, the urban center of the ...

, about from central

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. It is named after the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

, which flows through

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The architecture is themed according to British market town styles. There are cobbled streets, Victorian terraces, corner shops and

red telephone box The red telephone box, a telephone kiosk for a public telephone designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, is a familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom, Malta, Bermuda and Gibraltar. Despite a reduction in their numbers in recent years, ...

es. High house prices led to few permanent residents moving to the area, causing many of the shops and restaurants to close and the area to become known as a "

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

Description

Thames Town is a part of Songjiang New City, in Songjiang District. The town is from the Songjiang New City station on

Shanghai Metro Line 9 Line 9 is a southwest-northeast line of the Shanghai Metro network. The line runs from in Songjiang District to in Pudong. The line is colored on system maps. History In the initial planning of Line 9, the entire line was from Fengjing to Ch ...

. The

G60 Shanghai–Kunming Expressway The Shanghai–Kunming Expressway (), commonly referred to as the ''Hukun Expressway'' () is an expressway that connects the cities of Shanghai, China, and Kunming, Yunnan. It is in length. The entire route forms part of Asian Highway 3. Route Th ...

, formerly known as the Huhang Expressway, passes to its south. While Songjiang District is an ancient prefecture which predates by far the establishment of Shanghai, Songjiang New City is a new development, intended to draw population away from central Shanghai. Within this city, one of the objectives for Thames Town was to provide accommodation for the staff of the new universities in adjacent

Songjiang University Town Songjiang University Town or Songjiang University City () is a tertiary education hub located in the outskirts of Shanghai in Songjiang District.http://www.shanghai.gov.cn/shanghai/node2314/node2315/node15343/userobject21ai447363.html, The unive ...

. These developments were a part of the One City, Nine Towns initiative, which was passed by the Shanghai Planning Commission in 2001. This policy lasted for the duration of the tenth five year plan (2001–2005). The "one city" of this policy was Songjiang New City, where an English theme was used for Thames Town. The "nine towns" of the policy were each sited in one of the other suburban districts of Shanghai, and each was also given their own theme. Other Western themes used to date are

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

n ( Luodian),

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

( Pujiang),

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

( Fengcheng),

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(

Fengjing Fengjing () is a town in Jinshan District, Shanghai. An ancient water town, it also has a new town with a Canadian theme and an industrial zone. It is a centre for Jinshan peasant painting. Fengjing has an area of , and had a registered populatio ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

( Gaoqiao) and

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(

Anting Anting () is a town in Jiading District, Shanghai, bordering Kunshan, Jiangsu to the west. It has 96,000 inhabitants and, after the July 2009 merger of Huangdu (), an area of .

). The architectural firm of

Atkins Atkins may refer to: Places in the United States * Atkins, Arkansas, a city * Atkins, Iowa, a city * Atkins, Louisiana, an unincorporated community * Atkins, Nebraska, an unincorporated community * Atkins, Virginia, a census-designated place * ...

was given responsibility for planning Songjiang New City and designing Thames Town. The main developers for the town were Shanghai Songjiang New City Construction and Development, and Shanghai Henghe Real Estate. Thames Town was completed in 2006, occupying an area of 1 square kilometre and designed for a population of 10,000. Some of the architecture has been directly copied from buildings found in England, including the church (modelled on

Christ Church, Clifton Down Christ Church () is a Church of England parish church in Clifton, Bristol, England. It has been designated as a Grade II* listed building. History The church was built in 1841 by Charles Dyer. The steeple was built in 1859 by John Norton, and ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

), a pub, and fish and chip shop (copied from buildings in

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Herita ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

), and

Chester High Cross Chester High Cross is in Chester, Cheshire, England. It stands in front of St Peter's Church at the junction of Watergate Street, Eastgate Street and Bridge Street, a site known as Chester Cross. The cross is recorded in the National ...

. It cost 5 billion yuan to construct. The town consists mostly of low-density, single-family housing, with few commercial premises or community facilities. Although the houses sold rapidly, most purchases were by the relatively wealthy, as investments or second homes, and house prices rose to a high level. It was described as "a grotesque, and extremely funny parody of an olde English town seen through Chinese eyes, and built by canny British developers” by

Jonathan Glancey Jonathan Glancey, is an architectural critic and writer who was the architecture and design editor at ''The Guardian'', a position he held from 1997 to February 2012. He previously held the same post at ''The Independent''. He also has been invo ...

. The proportion of owners taking up permanent residence was low, and ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

'' described it as a "virtual ghost town". Nevertheless, in 2012 a similar English-style town was being planned near

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. By 2016, the majority of stores and restaurants in Thames Town were empty. Despite its emptiness, the town has been used as a location for

wedding photography Wedding photography is a specialty in photography that is primarily focused on the photography of events and activities relating to weddings. It may include other types of portrait photography of the couple before the official wedding day, such ...

, with the church and main square often used as a backdrop.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

* *
Pubs, privet and parody as China builds little Britain by the Yangtse
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 16 August 2006 *
Shanghai surprise ... a new town in ye olde English style
, ''

'', 2 June 2004 *
Ye Olde Shanghai
, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', 14 February 2005
Thames Town
Documentary Photography series by Dave Wyatt, July 2008
DowntownSongjiang Thames Town review
Downtown Songjiang review & photos of Thames Town, October 2011 {{Shanghai China–United Kingdom relations Novelty architecture Neighbourhoods of Shanghai Replica constructions in China Songjiang District

Description

See also

References

Sources

External links