Current time in Shanghai

Beijing Time, under Shanghai’s name

Shanghai uses China Standard Time, known inside the country as Beijing Time: eight hours ahead of UTC, with no daylight saving. It is the only official time in China. Software nevertheless labels it Asia/Shanghai, because the time zone database names each zone after its most populous city, and Shanghai has more inhabitants than the capital. Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore and Perth share the same offset.

One time across five zones’ worth of country

China spans about 5,000 kilometres from east to west, the width of five time zones. The Republic of China defined five zones in 1912, from UTC+5:30 in the far west to UTC+8:30 in the north-east. Since 1949 the whole country has used a single time. Shanghai, on the east coast, sits comfortably within it. In Xinjiang, far to the west, many people informally keep “Xinjiang Time”, two hours behind, and shops there open correspondingly late by the official clock.

Six summers of daylight saving

China tried daylight saving time from 1986 to 1991 and then dropped it; the clocks have not changed since. The Shanghai Stock Exchange trades from 09:30 to 11:30 and from 13:00 to 15:00. Its closing bell rings at 07:00 UTC, which is 07:00 or 08:00 in London depending on the season, before most European traders have started their day. Tokyo is one hour ahead of Shanghai all year.

Shanghai: time zone at a glance

Time zone

Asia/Shanghai

UTC offset

UTC+8, all year

Clock changes

None scheduled

Dates reflect the rules in force when this page was last updated. Governments can change them at short notice.

Plan a meeting in Shanghai

Use the actual meeting date. Seasonal clock changes can alter the time difference.

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