Time in China

China uses one time zone for the whole country, even though it is very wide. This time zone is based on the time in Beijing, the capital city. It is called Beijing Time in China and China Standard Time around the world.

Many big countries have many time zones, but China uses just one. This means people in the far west of China have the same time as people in the far east, even though the sun looks different in those places.

Daylight saving time, when clocks are moved forward or back to match the sunlight, has not been used in China since 1991. Today, places like Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore, and Brunei all share the same time as China.

History

In the 1870s, a French missionary built the Shanghai Xujiahui Observatory. Soon after, officials in the Shanghai French Concession began giving time announcements for ships using the observatory’s time. By the late 1800s, this time was changed to GMT+08:00. In 1902, the idea of one time zone for all coastal ports in China was suggested.

Until 1913, all of China used Beijing’s time. In 1914, the Republic of China government made Beijing’s local time the official time for the country. By 1918, five different time zones were proposed. After changes in government and wars, by 1949–1950, most areas used the same time as Beijing, called UTC+08:00 or Beijing Time.

Hong Kong and Macau kept their own time rules when they joined China in 1997 and 1999, even though they are in the same UTC+08:00 zone as Beijing.

Geography

The daylight hours for different places in China, using Beijing Time, show how big the country is from west to east.

The border with Afghanistan at the Wakhjir Pass is special because the time changes a lot when you cross it—from UTC+08:00 in China to UTC+04:30 in Afghanistan.

Regions with special time regulations

Xinjiang

Main article: Xinjiang Time

In Xinjiang, two time standards are used: Beijing Time and Xinjiang Time. Xinjiang Time is set to UTC+06:00. This makes it two hours earlier than Beijing time.

Some local authorities in Xinjiang use both time standards. TV stations schedule shows differently depending on the time they use. This mix of two time zones can be confusing.

Hong Kong and Macau

Hong Kong and Macau keep their own time authorities. Hong Kong Time and Macau Standard Time are both set to UTC+08:00, the same as Beijing time. Hong Kong started using Greenwich Mean Time in 1904 and switched to UTC in 1972. Before that, they used observations from the Hong Kong Observatory.

IANA time zone database

The land of the People's Republic of China uses special time zones listed in the IANA time zone database. The main name used is "Asia/Shanghai" because Shanghai is the biggest city in that part.

Columns marked with * come from the file zone.tab of the database.

Backward compatibility zone

Some time zones, like Asia/Kashgar, Asia/Chongqing, and Asia/Harbin, are saved in an extra file called "backzone". This helps older systems keep working.