What is CET in CST (China)?
China Standard Time is 6 hours ahead
Central European Time is on UTC+2:00 and China Standard Time is on UTC+8:00 right now. Central European Time is on daylight saving, so its clocks read CEST. The gap changes during the year — see below.
- Time in Paris
- 4:15 am
- Time in Beijing
- 10:15 am
- Difference
- +6 h
- Next clock change
- October 25, 2026
Convert a time
CST — China Standard Time
10:00 am
Wed
When the difference changes
Central European 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 25, 2026China Standard Time is 6 hours ahead
- October 25, 2026 – March 28, 2027China Standard Time is 7 hours ahead
- March 28, 2027 – onwardsChina Standard Time is 6 hours ahead
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
Central European Time
Clocks go back one hour at 2am local time, becoming CET.
China Standard Time
China Standard Time stays on CST all year, so its offset from UTC never moves.
CET to CST (China) conversion table
Every hour of Wednesday, September 23, 2026, converted from Central European Time to China Standard Time. 6 of the 24 hours fall on a different calendar day in Beijing, which is marked.
- 12:00 am CEST
- 6:00 am CST
- 1:00 am CEST
- 7:00 am CST
- 2:00 am CEST
- 8:00 am CST
- 3:00 am CEST
- 9:00 am CST
- 4:00 am CEST
- 10:00 am CST
- 5:00 am CEST
- 11:00 am CST
- 6:00 am CEST
- 12:00 pm CST
- 7:00 am CEST
- 1:00 pm CST
- 8:00 am CEST
- 2:00 pm CST
- 9:00 am CEST
- 3:00 pm CST
- 10:00 am CEST
- 4:00 pm CST
- 11:00 am CEST
- 5:00 pm CST
- 12:00 pm CEST
- 6:00 pm CST
- 1:00 pm CEST
- 7:00 pm CST
- 2:00 pm CEST
- 8:00 pm CST
- 3:00 pm CEST
- 9:00 pm CST
- 4:00 pm CEST
- 10:00 pm CST
- 5:00 pm CEST
- 11:00 pm CST
- 6:00 pm CEST
- 12:00 am CST+1 day
- 7:00 pm CEST
- 1:00 am CST+1 day
- 8:00 pm CEST
- 2:00 am CST+1 day
- 9:00 pm CEST
- 3:00 am CST+1 day
- 10:00 pm CEST
- 4:00 am CST+1 day
- 11:00 pm CEST
- 5:00 am CST+1 day
Scheduling between the two
Working hours overlap from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm CEST, which is 3:00 pm to 6:00 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.
Central European Time (CEST) is used in Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Amsterdam, Warsaw and Stockholm
China Standard Time (CST) is used in the whole of China, which runs on one offset from Kashgar to Shanghai