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