The time zone currently used by China is the China Standard Time (CST). Its standard is UTC + 08: 00 which precedes it by 8 hours compared to the Universal Time Coordinate. The time is officially indicated as Beijing time with the function of not having daylight saving time from 1991. China extends over five time zones regardless of whether it has a single universal time offset.
History of Beijing time
When the announcement of the weather began in 1880, the Shanghai Mean Solar Time was used. During this time, the official announcement of the time changed to GMT + 8 while universal time in China did not change until the year 1913. The Beijing Local Mean Solar came into use in 1914. Later, in 1928 , the announcement of time has changed in the traditional calendar of China.
After eleven years, the country moved to the GMT + 7 offset that underwent a refined process that led to the adoption of the time system used in Beijing. The temporal offset used by Beijing was GMT + 8. There were two regions that did not adopt Beijing Time: the Community Party of Tibet and Xinjiang.
Special time regulations
After the adoption of the Beijing Time, there are some rules that govern the standard time system in some regions. Areas like Xinjiang use both Beijing and Xinjiang Times simultaneously. The time setting used in this area is two hours behind the CST and corresponds to its geographical position, the furthest part of western China. Furthermore, the areas surrounding this area share the same time zone, Xinjiang Time. Some of these nearby areas include Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
The existence of two time zones in a geographical region is quite confusing for residents. As a result, inter-racial communication becomes difficult as the communicating parties must always clarify the time zones they use whenever they mention the time. Without clarification, it will not be possible to distinguish between the two time zones.
Another region that uses its time system is Hong Kong. The area started to use Hong Kong time (UTC + 08: 00) in 1997 following the transfer of sovereignty. Hong Kong weather did not have daylight saving time from 1979. The original temporal system of this region adopted astronomical observations but in 1904 the average time of Greenwich occurred.
Macau also began using its time system in 1999 after taking power. The time system has not had daylight saving time since 1980. The temporal offset of the region is UTC + 08: 00 for all times during the year.
Conclusion
The China Standard Time (CST) is the only time zone used in China and is referred to as Beijing time in the country. However, some regions of China such as Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Macao unofficially use different local time zones corresponding to their geographical locations.
