PLACE GUIDE

Thames Town 泰晤士小镇

Taiwushi Xiaozhen

Thames Town is a modern planned neighbourhood in Songjiang inspired by English market-town architecture.

Main square of Thames Town, Songjiang · 松江泰晤士小镇主广场
Main square of Thames Town, Songjiang · 松江泰晤士小镇主广场 Photograph date recorded by the source: 31 October 2006, 14:13:05. · Huai-Chun Hsu · Huai-Chun Hsu — Thames_Town_in_Songjiang.jpg — CC BY 2.0 · CC BY 2.0
Photo adjustments

Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.

Explore the region

Shanghai · 上海市 →Songjiang District · 松江区 →

About Thames Town

Its terraces, shopfronts and church-centred square were created as part of the new-town development.

The interest is the deliberate architectural borrowing rather than an old British settlement preserved in Shanghai. Compare the church and main square with the smaller lanes and residential façades. Public-space photography is one way to explore the design, while occupied homes and businesses remain private premises. Old reports about empty shops do not establish the neighbourhood’s present activity.

Thames Town lies within Songjiang New City, a new residential district built to draw population away from central Shanghai. It was built partly to house staff of new universities in the adjacent Songjiang University Town (松江大学城), as the English-themed component of the 'One City, Nine Towns' (一城九镇) initiative passed by the Shanghai Planning Commission in 2001; other new towns in the program took Scandinavian, Italian, Spanish, Canadian, Dutch and German themes.

The British firm Atkins planned Songjiang New City and designed Thames Town, whose main developers were Shanghai Songjiang New City Construction and Development (上海松江新城建设发展有限公司) and Shanghai Henghe Real Estate (上海恒和置业有限公司). Completed in 2006 at a cost of 5 billion yuan, it covers one square kilometer and was planned to hold a population of 10,000. Some buildings, including its church, directly copy specific structures found in England.

The town consists mostly of low-density, single-family housing with few commercial premises. Although its houses sold quickly, most buyers were relatively wealthy people purchasing investment or second homes, and the proportion of owners living there permanently has remained low. The town has become a popular location for wedding photography around its church and main square.

What to look for

  • The church-centred square gives the planned neighbourhood a conspicuous focal point.
  • English-inspired terraces, shopfronts and lanes create contrasting street scenes.

Location & getting there

Getting to Thames Town

Travel to Thames Town in Songjiang New Town. Songjiang Xincheng station is a rail approach for the district, followed by a separate local road journey to the neighbourhood.

General visit reminders

Choose the building, exhibition or part of the historic area you most want to see, then leave time to explore its setting. Check the venue’s current opening and reservation arrangements directly; a place appearing on the map does not mean every building or gallery is accessible on your travel date.

Combine your visit

A suggested sequence linking the specific features of this visit.

  1. Church and main square

    Begin with the most prominent part of the planned townscape.

  2. Market-town-style lanes

    Compare smaller shopfronts and terraces with the large square.

  3. Residential street exteriors

    Read the borrowed architectural vocabulary while respecting private properties.

This order is editorial. Confirm access and any transfers between stops; it does not establish a walking route, same-day connection or common admission ticket.

Historic sites & architecture · 历史古迹／建筑 →

Find Thames Town

泰晤士小镇 · 松江区

Amap · 高德地图Approximate pin · 近似位置Apple Maps · 苹果地图

The pin marks the area, not the entrance.

More places nearby

Approximate straight-line distances between map pins, not travel distances.

Guangfulin Cultural Relics Park 广富林文化遗址

3 km away

Guangfulin Cultural Relics Park is in northern Songjiang, Shanghai. The archaeological heritage is central to the district’s presentation of Shanghai’s early history. The visitor site began trial operation in June 2018 and…

View guide →

Chenshan Botanical Garden 辰山植物园

5 km away

Chenshan Botanical Garden occupies a broad landscape in Sheshan, Songjiang. Its botanical collections are organized into themed gardens and greenhouse displays, with conservation areas forming another part of the site.

View guide →

Zuibaichi 醉白池

5 km away

Zuibaichi is a classical garden in Songjiang organized around a pond and a sequence of pavilions, galleries and halls. Winding paths create changing views of water, planting and buildings.

View guide →

Sources & visit information

The sources below support the place-specific description and arrival information. Suggested combinations are editorial planning ideas; confirm current opening, entry arrangements and transport services for your date.

Visitor information adapted and edited from Wikipedia contributors, “泰晤士小镇” · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 90567426.

Visitor information adapted and edited from Wikivoyage contributors, listing “Thames Town” · CC BY-SA 4.0.

Background paragraphs translated and condensed from Wikipedia contributors, "泰晤士小镇", Chinese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 90567426.

Background paragraphs condensed from Wikipedia contributors, "Thames Town", English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 1369431174.

China Revealed · Editorially updated 2026-10-07