5/6/2023 0 Comments China time zones![]() ![]() In Xinjiang's extreme west, near China’s border with Pakistan, Beijing Standard Time is so irrelevant that it isn't even used on bus timetables. But as you head further west, into areas further away from Beijing (and with a higher concentration of Uighurs), knowing “which time” to use becomes trickier. In Urumqi, a city in Xinjiang's east populated mostly by the Han, Beijing Standard Time suffices. Among Han Chinese, Justin Jacobs, a Xinjiang expert at American University, told me, use of Beijing Standard Time is universal: “that there’s another clock is not even something the Han think about.” But much of the Uighur population prefers to use their own time. But in Xinjiang, the question of time divides the region’s population. And this decision to unify the whole country under one time zone was hardly unprecedented: newly-independent India, for example, had instituted a similar policy just two years before.įor most people in China, the single time-zone is at most a mild inconvenience, a scheduling quirk that simply requires a little adjustment. Given the state of the nation in those days, Mao’s reasoning was legitimate: Just two decades before, China was a fragmented country, with large swathes (such as Xinjiang) beyond the de facto control of the central government. But in 1949, as the Communist Party consolidated control of the country, Chairman Mao Zedong decreed that all of China would henceforth be on Beijing time for the purposes of national unity. In 1912, the year after the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, the newly empowered Republic of China established five different time zones in the country, ranging from five and a half to eight and a half hours past Greenwich Mean Time. We’re Learning the Wrong Lessons From the World’s Happiest Countries Joe PinskerĬhina hasn't always had one time zone. ![]() In order to accommodate people inconvenienced by the time zone change, shops and restaurants in Xinjiang often adjust their hours-but the effect can still be disorienting for the unaccustomed traveler. ![]() Or for the sun to rise there in the winter around 10 AM. Maybe so, but the single time zone does present odd sights: In the summer, for instance, it isn’t uncommon in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital, to see people enjoying a beautiful sunset. reduce its time zones from four to two, cited China as an example of why such a change would be less problematic than people would expect. Allison Schrager, in her widely circulated article from last week advocating that the continental U.S. This means that when it's 6 o’clock in the nation's capital, it’s 6 o’clock almost 3,000 miles further west, in Kashgar. The reason for this confusion is simple: China, a country that is of roughly similar size to the continental United States, has one time zone: Beijing Standard Time. But if your friend is a Uighur, the largest ethnic minority group in Xinjiang, he might be referring to “local time,” which is two hours behind. If your friend is of China's majority Han ethnicity, you can assume that by 3 o'clock he's referring to Beijing Standard Time. Sounds pretty straight forward, right? Not in Xinjiang. Your friend sends you a text message and tells you to meet him at 3 pm. Imagine that you've found yourself in Kashgar, the western-most city in Xinjiang, China’s western-most region. Next time change is highlighted.ĭata for the years before 1970 is not available for China, however, we have earlier time zone history for Chicago available.Many members of Xinjiang's Uighur ethnicity use a unique time zone two hours behind official Chinese time. The graph above illustrates clock changes in China during 2023.ĭaylight Saving Time (DST) changes do not necessarily occur on the same date every year. Business Date to Date (exclude holidays). ![]()
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