Time in China

China has one time zone. It is officially called China Standard Time (CST). It is 8 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+08:00). There is no daylight saving time.

Use

The capital of China is Beijing. It is at about 116° east. The visual sun time for Beijing is UTC+7:45:32. The time zone UTC+08:00 matches the visual sun time for 120° east. The complete hour UTC+08:00 is a compromise to be compatible to other time zones on earth.

Because Beijing is the capital, and the UTC+08:00 time zone is about right for the capital’s location, people usually call China Standard Time, 北京时间; Běijīng Shíjiān; "northern capital time", in English Beijing Standard Time (BJT).

Xinjiang (East Turkestan) unofficially uses UTC+06:00. Many locations north and south of Xinjiang use this time zone. However, the main population, the Uyghur people, also use the time zone as a political statement, to express disagreement with the central government in Beijing.

The UTC+08:00 time zone is also used in Taiwan. However, because of political reasons it is usually called Taipei Time or Taiwan Time. Similarly, in Hong Kong the time zone is called Hong Kong Time.

Changes

Time zones used in the Republic of China (1912–1949).

• China was founded in 1949. Before 1949 there were 5 time zones. Geographically, China is in almost 5 time zones.
• Daylight saving time was removed in 1992.

Criticism

Some people say that (except for 112 – 128° E) the usage of UTC+08:00 was harmful. China should have five time zones. The country’s west, especially in Xinjiang, see sunrise as late as 10 a.m. CST, making children go to school in the dark, and sunsets in the summer as late as midnight.