Thames Town

Thames Town 泰晤士小鎮
District
Country	People's Republic of China
Municipality	Songjiang District
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)

Thames Town (Chinese: 泰晤士小鎮; pinyin: tài wù shì xiǎo zhèn) is the English name for a new town in Songjiang District, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from central Shanghai, China. It is named after the River Thames in London, United Kingdom. The architecture is themed according to classic British market town styles. There are cobbled streets, Victorian terraces and corner shops.

Thames Town is a part of Songjiang New City, in Songjiang District. The town is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the Songjiang New City station on Shanghai Metro Line 9. The G60 Shanghai–Kunming Expressway, 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. 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 Scandinavian, Italian, Spanish, Canadian, Dutch and German.

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