It's like Europe, except with less white people!

The western media just can't get enough of Thames Town. A few months ago, we headed out there hoping that we would get some fish and chips, but after walking about all we saw were couples getting married amid the backdrop of merry old England. There was a mention of a "grocery store" in Thames Town in the report—last time we went there, we indeed found a grocery store, you know, the one called Lawson's—but maybe there have been some changes since the first (and last) time we went there, several months ago.

However, the report linked to above not only talks about Thames Town, but the faux-Venice in Hangzhou. There are some interesting quotes in this story, and as you all know, by 'interesting' we actually mean completely asinine:

Indeed, Wu said she has no desire to leave her country even though she likes the comfort and ambience of her new four-bedroom townhouse. ''It's like I'm living abroad, but it's still China and everyone still speaks Chinese,'' said Wu, 45, an investor.

At the same time, we saw this report from the AP saying that Beijing's oldest opera house, built during the Ming dynasty, has been declared unsafe and will be razed and then replaced by a modern building, which we are told will be a "modern, professional venue, " which is a relief, since we were worried about it being replaced by some derivative and uninspiring crap building made of glass. What would be really cool if they made the new one look exactly like some other theater in England.

To see some fairly recent pictures of Thames Town, check out this photo set from Scandinavian Sensation 2dogs.

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