Thames Town

Did I say I wanted to see more of China?

This looks like Cambridge.

This looks like Oxford.

This looks like Chester.

This looks like London.

This looks like Kensington.

No. It’s Thames Town: an English themed housing development in the suburbs of Shanghai.

There might be a pub, but it is empty inside. As with most of the shops in Thames Town, it is a facade. Perhaps one day there will be something inside, but right now the place is very empty.

The town is very popular with bridal photographers. I probably saw about 30 couples getting their photographs taken.

The church looks very new.

This church has one modern feature that a real English church would not have: underground parking!

I wonder if the inside is empty, like the pub was?

It is all very clean and new.

Even details like the traffic lights look like they’ve come straight from the UK.

This looks just like the UK too! The UK has the most surveillance cameras in the world, with up to 4.2 million cameras (1 for every 14 people).

Many things we take for granted in England (and other western countries) are actually made in China these days. If much of what you seen when you are in England is actually Chinese, then maybe an English style village in Shanghai isn’t so strange after all?