Time in China
The
History
In the 1870s, the Shanghai Xujiahui Observatory was constructed by a French Catholic missionary. In 1880s officials in
Until 1913, the official time standard for the whole of China was still the
After the defeat of
In the 1930s, the proposed five time zones had not been fully observed, causing regions in inner China area to adopt their own time standards, resulting in chaos. On 9 March 1939, when the Ministry of the Interior organized a Standard Time Conference in Chongqing, it was decided to adopt the five time zone proposal with slight modification of their borders starting from 1 June, however it was also decided that the entire country would use the Kansu-Szechwan Time (UTC+07:00) during the Second Sino-Japanese War which began at the time.[5]
Following the end of
There are two independent sources that claim the CCP, and/or the People's Republic of China, were using apparent solar time for Beijing Time before the period between 27 September 1949 and 6 October 1949, and they adopted the time of UTC+08:00 within that period of time, but the claim is dubious.[6]
Time zone changes in Tibet are undocumented, but Beijing Time was in use until at least the mid-1950s. Between 1969 and 1986, the time zone was switched repeatedly between Xinjiang Time (UTC+06:00) and Beijing Time.[5]
Daylight saving time was observed from 1945 to 1948, and from 1986 to 1991.[5]
In 1997 and 1999, Hong Kong and Macau were transferred to China from the United Kingdom and Portugal respectively, being established as special administrative regions. Although the sovereignty of the SARs belongs to China, they retain their own policies regarding time zones for historical reasons. Due to their geographical locations, both are within the UTC+08:00 time zone, which is the same as the national standard, Beijing time.
Geography
As an illustration of the wide range, the daylight hours (Beijing Time) for the seats of the westernmost (both including and not including Xinjiang due to local customs, see below) and easternmost counties, calculated for the year 2010, are shown here:[7]
Division | Daylight time | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Location | County | Province | 1 January | 1 July |
Westernmost | Akto[8] | Xinjiang | 10:16 – 19:44 | 07:34 – 22:26 |
Westernmost (not including Xinjiang) | Zanda[9] | Tibet | 09:40 – 19:48 | 07:39 – 21:50 |
Easternmost | Fuyuan[10] | Heilongjiang | 06:54 – 15:18 | 03:05 – 19:08 |
The border with Afghanistan at the Wakhjir Pass has the most significant official change of clocks for any international land frontier: UTC+08:00 in China to UTC+04:30 in Afghanistan.
Regions with special time regulations
Xinjiang
In Xinjiang, two time standards are used in parallel, namely Beijing Time and Xinjiang Time.[11][5]
Xinjiang Time, also known as Ürümqi Time (Chinese: 乌鲁木齐时间; pinyin: Wūlǔmùqí Shíjiān), is set due to its geographical location in the westernmost part of the country.[12] The time offset is UTC+06:00, which is two hours behind Beijing, and is shared with neighbouring Kyrgyzstan.
Some local Xinjiang authorities now use both time standards side by side.[13][14] Television stations schedule programmes in different time standards according to their nature.[5]
The coexistence of two time zones within the same region causes some confusion among the local population, especially when inter-racial communication occurs. When a time is mentioned in conversation between Han and Uyghur, it is necessary to either explicitly make clear whether the time is in Xinjiang Time or Beijing Time, or convert the time according to the ethnicity of the other party.[15][16][17] The double time standard is particularly observable in Xinjiang Television, which schedules its Chinese channel according to Beijing time and its Uyghur and Kazakh channels according to Xinjiang time.[18]
Regardless, Beijing Time users in Xinjiang usually schedule their daily activities two hours later than those who live in eastern China. As such, stores and offices in Xinjiang are commonly open from 10am to 7pm Beijing Time, which equals 8am to 5pm in Ürümqi Time.[19] This is known as the work/rest time in Xinjiang.[20]
In most areas of Xinjiang, the opening time of local authorities is additionally modified by shifting the morning session 30–60 minutes earlier and the afternoon session 30 minutes later to extend the lunch break for 60–90 minutes, so as to avoid the intense heat during noon time in the area during summer.[14]
Hong Kong and Macau
Taiwan
Taiwan, which is not governed under the authority of the People's Republic of China (see political status of Taiwan), also uses UTC+08:00, which corresponds well to its longitude.
IANA time zone database
The territory of the
Columns marked with * are from the file
c.c.* | coordinates* | TZ* | comments* | Standard time | Summer time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CN |
+3114+12128 | Asia/Shanghai |
Beijing Time | UTC+08:00 | — | |
CN |
+4348+08735 | Asia/Urumqi |
Xinjiang Time | UTC+06:00 | — | Unofficial |
HK |
+2217+11409 | Asia/Hong_Kong |
UTC+08:00 | — | ||
MO |
+221150+1133230 | Asia/Macau |
UTC+08:00 | — |
Backward compatibility zone
The following zones, including Asia/Kashgar, Asia/Chongqing, and Asia/Harbin, are kept in the "backzone" file of the IANA time zone database for backward compatibility.
c.c.* | coordinates* | TZ* | comments* | Standard time | Summer time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CN |
Asia/Harbin |
UTC+08:00 | — | linked back to Asia/Shanghai | ||
CN |
Asia/Chongqing |
UTC+08:00 | — | linked back to Asia/Shanghai | ||
CN |
Asia/Kashgar |
UTC+06:00 | — | linked back to Asia/Ürümqi |
See also
References
- ^ 时间的概念 [The concept of time]. 国家授时中心科普网站 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 16 October 2012.
- ^ 黑河综合遥感联合试验:冰沟流域加密观测区径流加强观测数据集 [WATER: Dataset of intensive runoff observations in the Binggou watershed foci experimental area]. 国家青藏高原科学数据中心 [National Tibetan Plateau Data Center] (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^ "CST – China Standard Time (Time Zone Abbreviation)". timeanddate.com.
- ^ "Daylight Saving Time in China". timeanddate.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Guo, Qing-sheng (2001). 中国标准时制考 [A Study on the Standard Time Changes for the Past 100 Years in China] (PDF). China Historical Materials of Science and Technology (in Chinese (China)). 22 (3): 269–280. 1000-0798(2001)03-0269-12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
- ^ Guo, Qingsheng (2003). "Beijing Time at the Beginning of PRC". China Historical Materials of Science and Technology'. 24 (1): 5–9.
- ^ "NOAA Solar Calculator". NOAA. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
- ^ 39°08′52″N 75°56′51″E / 39.1478°N 75.9474°E
- ^ 31°28′48″N 79°48′26″E / 31.479882°N 79.807096°E
- ^ 48°21′53″N 134°18′28″E / 48.3647°N 134.3079°E
- Xinhua (in Simplified Chinese). 3 November 2015. Archived from the originalon 9 November 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- ^ 2 节气、数九、昼长、乌鲁木齐时间. xjxnw.gov.cn (in Chinese). 22 February 2011. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
- ^ Ingram, Ruth (September 2013). "Bending Time in Xinjiang". EthnoTraveler Magazine.
- ^ a b 作息时间. xjlt.gov.cn (in Chinese). 26 August 2008. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014.
- ^ 10点日出,半夜吃饭,在新疆用北京时间的烦恼. zh:纽约时报中文网 [New York Times Chinese Website] (in Chinese). 17 June 2016.
- ^ 【城市】乌鲁木齐:没有屋顶的博物馆. Southern Weekly (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 21 December 2016.
- ^ Demick, Barbara (31 March 2009). "Clocks square off in China's far west". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ 北京时间的概念 (in Chinese).
- ^ "The Working-Calendar for The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Government". The Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Archived from the original on 4 December 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2008.
Urumqi Time (GMT+6) is 2 hours behind Beijing Time
- ^ 政协委员建议:调整新疆单位作息时间 (in Chinese). 人民网. 17 January 2014.
- Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau. Archived from the originalon 16 July 2011.
- ^ "O Serviço de<<Hora Exacta>> na Internet". Direcção dos Serviços Meteorológicos e Geofísicos [Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau] (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
- ^ timeanddate.com, Daylight Saving Time in Hong Kong
- ^ timeanddate.com, Daylight Saving Time in Macau
- ^ "1883-1933: Equatorial & Transit Circle". Hong Kong Obvervatory.
- ^ "eggert/tz". 20 July 2022 – via GitHub.
External links
- Government departments responsible for time services
- National Time Service Center, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Archived 17 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine
- Hong Kong Observatory (Hong Kong)
- Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) (Macau)