Current Time in China

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A Frequently Asked Question:

Why Do You Show Beijing Time As China's Current Time? Isn't It Just a City?

Answer (Short version):

Yes, Beijing is just a city, yet Beijing time is China's time. No matter where you are, as long as you are inside China, Beijing time is the standard and official time everyone uses.

Answer (Long version):

Yes. Beijing is just a city, yet a capital city. Beijing time is China's time. Although China is huge and spans across five time zones, a single standard time at UTC+08:00 has been used for the entire country since 1949.

Out of the five time zones of China, UTC+08:00 is the standard time of the second one from China's east. Since Bejing, the capital city of China, is within this time zone, UTC+08:00 was chosen as China's standard time in 1949 and has been called Beijing Time within China since then, though it is commonly referred to as China Standard Time (CST) internationally.

Additional information:

Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are also within this time zone. So this standard time is called Hong Kong Time in Hong Kong, Macau Standard Time in Macau and National Standard Time (or Chungyuan Standard Time, Central Standard Time, Taiwan Standard Time) in Taiwan.