Shanghai's "One City, Nine Towns" initiative, the most famous of which is probably "Thames Town," was set up to facilitate sustainable urban growth through international-themed satellite cities. It's also one of the most bizzare aspects of Shanghai sprawl existing. Sarah Wesseler covered the strange story behind these crazy, and ultimately failed, themed villages for Assembly Journal. more ›

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. more ›

We have written about the Thames Town development in suburban Shanghai a couple times before. Our posts probably wouldn't qualify as "good PR", in fact the second link led to a bunch of international news stories about a pub owner in England who accused Thames Town developers of cloning her establishments. Admittedly, we have never been to Thames Town -- we just think the idea is kind of silly. more ›

From Caddy's email to us: more ›

The rules state that all dogs which enter public areas without a proper reason such as medical treatment or a public performance can be killed by public security bureaus or other units entrusted with the task. more ›

We wrote about Thames Town earlier, and it seems that Kristie Lu Stout, armed with her "Shanghai Diary" has taken it upon herself to bore many, many people with her take on what several hundred thousand people have already had their take on. You'll enjoy this: more ›

Are we the the only ones who immediately think of Wee Britain from Arrested Development (more info here) when we watch this CNN piece on British-themed Shanghai housing development "Thames Town"? (Once on the CNN site, you need to click on the link that says "A bit of Britain outside of Shanghai" to watch the video.) more ›