What is AEST in CST (China)?
China Standard Time is 2 hours behind
Australian Eastern Time is on UTC+10:00 and China Standard Time is on UTC+8:00 right now. The gap changes during the year — see below.
- Time in Sydney
- 12:15 pm
- Time in Beijing
- 10:15 am
- Difference
- −2 h
- Next clock change
- October 3, 2026
Convert a time
CST — China Standard Time
10:00 am
Wed
When the difference changes
Australian Eastern Time and China Standard Time do not change their clocks on the same dates, so the gap between them is not the same all year. Most converters show only today’s figure. These are the periods ahead:
- Now – October 3, 2026China Standard Time is 2 hours behind
- October 3, 2026 – April 3, 2027China Standard Time is 3 hours behind
- April 3, 2027 – October 2, 2027China Standard Time is 2 hours behind
- October 2, 2027 – onwardsChina Standard Time is 3 hours behind
Periods shorter than a day are not listed: both zones change at 2am in their own local time, so there are a few hours on each transition date when the gap is briefly something else.
Daylight saving
Australian Eastern Time
Clocks go forward one hour at 2am local time, becoming AEDT.
China Standard Time
China Standard Time stays on CST all year, so its offset from UTC never moves.
AEST to CST (China) conversion table
Every hour of Wednesday, September 23, 2026, converted from Australian Eastern Time to China Standard Time. 2 of the 24 hours fall on a different calendar day in Beijing, which is marked.
- 12:00 am AEST
- 10:00 pm CST−1 day
- 1:00 am AEST
- 11:00 pm CST−1 day
- 2:00 am AEST
- 12:00 am CST
- 3:00 am AEST
- 1:00 am CST
- 4:00 am AEST
- 2:00 am CST
- 5:00 am AEST
- 3:00 am CST
- 6:00 am AEST
- 4:00 am CST
- 7:00 am AEST
- 5:00 am CST
- 8:00 am AEST
- 6:00 am CST
- 9:00 am AEST
- 7:00 am CST
- 10:00 am AEST
- 8:00 am CST
- 11:00 am AEST
- 9:00 am CST
- 12:00 pm AEST
- 10:00 am CST
- 1:00 pm AEST
- 11:00 am CST
- 2:00 pm AEST
- 12:00 pm CST
- 3:00 pm AEST
- 1:00 pm CST
- 4:00 pm AEST
- 2:00 pm CST
- 5:00 pm AEST
- 3:00 pm CST
- 6:00 pm AEST
- 4:00 pm CST
- 7:00 pm AEST
- 5:00 pm CST
- 8:00 pm AEST
- 6:00 pm CST
- 9:00 pm AEST
- 7:00 pm CST
- 10:00 pm AEST
- 8:00 pm CST
- 11:00 pm AEST
- 9:00 pm CST
Scheduling between the two
Working hours overlap from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm AEST, which is 9:00 am to 4:00 pm CST. Anything inside that window falls in the normal working day at both ends.
A note on CST (China): it can also mean the abbreviation CST is shared with US Central Time and Cuba Standard Time.
Australian Eastern Time (AEST) is used in Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane. Queensland stays on AEST all year while the southern states move to AEDT.
China Standard Time (CST) is used in the whole of China, which runs on one offset from Kashgar to Shanghai