Time zone in Beijing
Beijing is on China Standard Time (UTC+8) all year, with no daylight saving time. Its identifier in the international time zone database is Asia/Shanghai: it is what your phone and computer use to show the right time there.
Officially, all of China runs on one time zone, China Standard Time (UTC+8), from the east coast to Xinjiang in the far west, where many people also use an unofficial local time two hours behind. China has not used daylight saving time since 1991.
Beijing shares its time with Shanghai.
By the sun, noon in Beijing falls at about 12:14 PM (on average over the year). The city lies at 116.41° east, and every degree of longitude shifts the sun by 4 minutes. Clock time is close to sun time here. See the sunrise and sunset times in Beijing.
Time difference with major cities
When it is 12:00 PM (noon) in Beijing, it is:
| City | January | July |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 11:00 PM, day before | 12:00 AM |
| Los Angeles | 8:00 PM, day before | 9:00 PM, day before |
| London | 4:00 AM | 5:00 AM |
| Paris | 5:00 AM | 6:00 AM |
| Tokyo | 1:00 PM | 1:00 PM |
| Sydney | 3:00 PM | 2:00 PM |
The gap with New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Sydney changes by one hour during the year: these cities use daylight saving time, Beijing does not.
Best time to call Beijing from New York
To reach someone at work in Beijing from New York: in January, the best window is from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM in New York, which is 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM the next day in Beijing. In July, the best window is from 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM in New York, which is 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM the next day in Beijing.
Detailed time differences: Paris and Beijing. For any other city, use the time zone converter.