What is CST (China) in EST?
Eastern Time is 12 hours behind
China Standard Time is on UTC+8:00 and Eastern Time is on UTC−4:00 right now. Eastern Time is on daylight saving, so its clocks read EDT. The gap changes during the year — see below.
- Time in Beijing
- 9:34 am
- Time in New York
- 9:34 pm
- Difference
- −12 h
- Next clock change
- November 1, 2026
Convert a time
EDT — Eastern Time
9:00 pm
Tue, the previous day
When the difference changes
China Standard Time and Eastern 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 – November 1, 2026Eastern Time is 12 hours behind
- November 1, 2026 – March 14, 2027Eastern Time is 13 hours behind
- March 14, 2027 – onwardsEastern Time is 12 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.
Eastern Time
Clocks go back one hour at 2am local time, becoming EST.
CST (China) to EST conversion table
Every hour of Wednesday, September 23, 2026, converted from China Standard Time to Eastern Time. 12 of the 24 hours fall on a different calendar day in New York, which is marked.
- 12:00 am CST
- 12:00 pm EDT−1 day
- 1:00 am CST
- 1:00 pm EDT−1 day
- 2:00 am CST
- 2:00 pm EDT−1 day
- 3:00 am CST
- 3:00 pm EDT−1 day
- 4:00 am CST
- 4:00 pm EDT−1 day
- 5:00 am CST
- 5:00 pm EDT−1 day
- 6:00 am CST
- 6:00 pm EDT−1 day
- 7:00 am CST
- 7:00 pm EDT−1 day
- 8:00 am CST
- 8:00 pm EDT−1 day
- 9:00 am CST
- 9:00 pm EDT−1 day
- 10:00 am CST
- 10:00 pm EDT−1 day
- 11:00 am CST
- 11:00 pm EDT−1 day
- 12:00 pm CST
- 12:00 am EDT
- 1:00 pm CST
- 1:00 am EDT
- 2:00 pm CST
- 2:00 am EDT
- 3:00 pm CST
- 3:00 am EDT
- 4:00 pm CST
- 4:00 am EDT
- 5:00 pm CST
- 5:00 am EDT
- 6:00 pm CST
- 6:00 am EDT
- 7:00 pm CST
- 7:00 am EDT
- 8:00 pm CST
- 8:00 am EDT
- 9:00 pm CST
- 9:00 am EDT
- 10:00 pm CST
- 10:00 am EDT
- 11:00 pm CST
- 11:00 am EDT
Scheduling between the two
There is no overlap between a nine-to-six working day in Beijing and one in New York — the gap is too wide. A call has to sit early or late for one side. Early morning in Beijing is the usual compromise, since that is late afternoon or evening in New York.
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
Eastern Time (EDT) is used in Toronto, Atlanta, Miami, Detroit and most of the US east coast