Fake britain: an english town... In china

All photos: Rueben Wu

The juxtaposition of Shanghai and quant English staples such as “The Fish Bar” and Claire’s accessories is a peculiar site to behold. Based on Dorset, Chester and Bristol, there are Georgian and Victorian homes to compliment the Tudor designs and even a bronze statue of James Bond.

 But while some might compare Thames Town’s facsimile of British life to the Jim Carrey movie The Truman Show, this fake town is 100 per cent real.

The town was built in 2006 for an alleged £500 million, explains The Daily Mail, as part of Shanghai’s One City, Nine Towns scheme, a programme designed to help tackle the city’s overpopulation. After all, with middle class house hunters springing up all over the country, who wouldn’t want the chance to seize a piece of ersatz suburbia?

Other developments include the town of Tianduchengy in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, a mock Parisian metropolish, complete with everything from European architecture and impressive water features to an imitation Eiffel Tower.

At first, it seemed a success. Many of the homes in the nine satellite sites were snapped up by speculators or purchased as second homes. But while they were sold, they were not lived in. That lack of residents left the telephone boxes in Thames Town unused and the streets deserted – bad news for Claire’s accessories.

Photographer Rueben Wu captured the bizarre town. His photos attracted attention around the world. He told Buzzfeed: “All the shops there had started off as other things - record shops, cafes, restaurants and clothing shops, but most had been shut down.”

Today, Thames Town is mostly used by middle classes – but not in the way originally planned. It has become a novelty backdrop for English-themed wedding photos.

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