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Time in China now

7:03PMCST

CSTUTC+8+13 h vs New York (you)Asia/Shanghai

No clock changes: China stays on CST (UTC+8) all year.

Time zones in China now

ZoneTime nowOffset nowRulesExample
Ürümqi time 5:03 PM UTC+6 UTC+6 UTC+6 all year Ürümqi · Xinjiang Time
China Standard Time 7:03 PM CST UTC+8 CST (UTC+8) all year Shanghai · Beijing Time

Time zone in China

China has 2 different clock settings under the current rules, from UTC+6 in Ürümqi to CST (UTC+8) in Shanghai. The clock at the top shows the capital, Beijing, on China Standard Time (CST, UTC+8) all year.

The IANA time zone database divides China into 2 zones. It needs more zones than there are clock settings because it also records history: two regions that keep the same time today get separate entries if their clocks differed at any point since 1970.

Beijing lies at 116.4° east, where mean solar time is UTC+7:46 (four minutes per degree of longitude). That is within 14 min of its clock time, so the sun is highest close to noon.

Daylight saving time in China

No. None of China’s regions changes its clocks under the current rules.

Beijing last used daylight saving time in 1991, after 6 years with summer time since 1970.

Clock history of China

The record begins with local mean time (clocks set by the sun, UTC+8:06 in Shanghai), which ended on January 1, 1901, when CST (UTC+8) replaced it. Between 1970 and 2024, a daylight saving period began in 6 of the 55 years, most recently in 1991. The first summer time in the record dates from 1919. The table summarises the clocks of Beijing year by year since 1970, from the tzdata entry Asia/Shanghai.

YearsClocksAbbreviations
1970–1985UTC+8 all yearCST
1986–1991UTC+8 in winter, UTC+9 in summerCST, CDT
1992 onwardUTC+8 all yearCST

Rows from 2027 on follow the rules in tzdata 2026f; a government decision would change them in the next release.

Convert China time

Tip: Alt+↑/↓ steps the time by 15 minutes (Shift: one hour). The link keeps the date, time and direction.

Time difference between China and major cities

CityLocal time nowChina vs city nowJanuaryJulyOffice overlap Jan / Jul
New York 6:03 AM Tue, Nov 3 +13 h +13 h +12 h none / none
Los Angeles 3:03 AM Tue, Nov 3 +16 h +16 h +15 h none / none
London 11:03 AM Tue, Nov 3 +8 h +8 h +7 h none / 1 h
Berlin 12:03 PM Tue, Nov 3 +7 h +7 h +6 h 1 h / 2 h
Dubai 3:03 PM Tue, Nov 3 +4 h +4 h +4 h 4 h / 4 h
New Delhi 4:33 PM Tue, Nov 3 +2 h 30 min +2 h 30 min +2 h 30 min 5 h 30 min / 5 h 30 min
Tokyo 8:03 PM Tue, Nov 3 −1 h −1 h −1 h 7 h / 7 h
Sydney 10:03 PM Tue, Nov 3 −3 h −3 h −2 h 5 h / 6 h

Office hours and calls

With JavaScript on, this line shows how China’s office hours overlap yours today.

Beijing and New York share no office hours: when offices open at 9:00 AM in Beijing, it is 8:00 PM the day before in New York. A call has to be early or late for one side: 9:00 PM in Beijing is 8:00 AM in New York.

A 9-to-5 day in Beijing overlaps London’s for 0 min in January (8:00 AM–8:00 AM Beijing time), 1 h in July. At 9:00 AM in Beijing it is 1:00 AM in London.

A 9-to-5 day in Beijing overlaps New Delhi’s for 5 h 30 min in January (11:30 AM–5:00 PM Beijing time) and the same in July. At 9:00 AM in Beijing it is 6:30 AM in New Delhi.

Neighbouring time zones

The nearest large cities on a different clock, with the straight-line distance from Beijing and the difference now.

CityDistanceTime nowTheir clock vs here
Pyongyang North Korea 810 km 8:03 PM KST +1 h
Vladivostok Russia 1,330 km 9:03 PM UTC+10 +2 h

Same clock as China

These places keep exactly the same time as China all year under the current rules (zones Antarctica/Casey, Asia/Hong_Kong, Asia/Irkutsk, Asia/Kuching, Asia/Macau and 6 more).

Cities in China

China at a glance

Questions

What time is it in China now?
The clock at the top of this page shows it to the second. China is on UTC+8 all year, 13 hours ahead of New York in January and 12 hours ahead of New York in July.
What time zone is China in?
China spans 2 clock settings: Ürümqi time (UTC+6), e.g. Ürümqi; China Standard Time (CST (UTC+8)), e.g. Shanghai.
How many time zones does China have?
Under the current rules, 2 clock settings (2 standard offsets), which the IANA database records as 2 zones because of their different histories.

More time zones