What time is it in China?

China stays on UTC+8:00 all year. Its offset from UTC never moves, so its relationship to places that do change shifts twice a year instead — which is usually why someone checks. Right now it is 8 hours ahead of UTC, and 13 hours ahead of New York.

China spans 2 time zones, so “the time in China” depends where. Each has its own page.

Shanghai is 13 hours ahead of New York and 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles. 9am in New York is 10:00 pm in Shanghai.

To convert a specific time rather than read the current one, the converter shows both directions with the next clock change for each.

The day is 10 hours 38 minutes long in Shanghai, and losing 1 minute a day. The sun peaks at 11:38 am, 22 minutes before noon on the clock. A UTC offset is a promise that the sun is overhead at midday on one meridian, and Shanghai sits 6 minutes of solar time east of UTC+8:00’s. The rest is the equation of time, which swings about a quarter of an hour either way across the year.

The solar year swings 4 hours 4 minutes in Shanghai: 14 hours 11 minutes of daylight at the June solstice against 10 hours 7 minutes at the December one. Being north of the equator, its longest day falls in June — the opposite way round from the other hemisphere.

China has kept UTC+8:00 since Sunday, September 15, 1991, when it moved from UTC+9:00. Before that its clocks read 1 hour ahead of what they read now.

On UTC+8:00 right now, the same clock as China: