
Out of nowhere, in Shanghai’s Songjiang new district, you may stumble upon this extraordinary British-inspired “village” – Thames Town, whose name is derived from London’s River Thames.
We came here during our day trip to Songjiang and almost, for a second, I got all flustered thinking somehow I had been dragged back to the western civilization against my will.
The relatively new Thames Town was initially constructed in 2006 as part of a One City, Nine Towns plan under the watch of a British architecture firm. Many of the buildings are exactly modeled off of existing establishments in England, including the church in the image above.

Now, Thames Town has become extremely popular for wedding photography (we saw countless grooms & brides running around with their photographers) and also hobbyists, arms filled with spare lens (I can relate to this feeling).
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