Thames Town – Chinese Truman Show

Thames Town is a charming little town straight out of a British postcard. Red telephone booths, Victorian architecture, brick terraced houses and old-fashioned post boxes give it a typically English vibe. Yet something feels off – it’s way too cute, tidy and suspiciously perfect.

After a while, the oddities start to show. Cars drive on the right, most of the shops are closed, and the people walking past in no way look European. On top of that, there’s an eerie silence, and everything is so perfectly arranged that it almost feels unnatural.

The truth only becomes obvious when you notice the signs. Alongside the English names, there are Chinese characters. That’s when it clicks: this isn’t England, it’s China. Thames Town is a miniature British-style town located about 30 kilometres from the centre of Shanghai.

It was built from scratch as part of the Chinese government’s “One City, Nine Towns” project. Besides Thames Town, the plan included towns in Scandinavian style (Luodian), Italian (Pujiang), Spanish (Fengcheng), Canadian (Fengjing), Dutch (Gaoqiao) and German (Anting). The idea was to create desirable places to live and encourage residents of crowded Shanghai to move out of the city centre.

The problem was, property prices were high, the commute was long, and few people wanted to live there permanently. Most houses were bought by wealthier Chinese as investments or second homes. The result? A ghost town. Apparently, British charm didn’t quite win over the locals, even though the total investment came to 5 billion yuan, roughly 700 million dollars.

Walking around Thames Town, it’s clear no expense was spared on the details. Street lamps, traffic lights, post boxes and red telephone booths were all imported from England. There’s a church almost modelled on Christ Church in Bristol, cobbled streets, and statues of Shakespeare, Dickens, and even Harry Potter and James Bond. The only thing missing is proper English weather.

Today, Thames Town mainly serves as a backdrop for wedding photos. The functioning shops are mostly bridal boutiques and makeup studios.

Strolling through Thames Town feels like walking through a film set. Everything looks right, but something is clearly off. The entire town is essentially a gigantic prop, yet it’s hard not to be charmed by it. The sterile, perfectly ordered image of an English town is slightly unsettling. And that’s exactly why Thames Town is fascinating, it’s a bit like a live-action Truman Show.

How to get there

Thames Town is about an hour from central Shanghai. The easiest way is to take Metro Line 9 to Songjiang Xincheng station. From there, it’s around 5 kilometres further – most convenient by taxi, which cost me about €3,5. I used Didi Taxi, the Chinese equivalent of Uber. It’s part of the Alipay app, the main payment system in Shanghai. It’s best to download it before your trip and link a European card, as cash is nearly non-existent and European cards are only sporadically accepted. Most transactions are handled through Alipay or WeChat.