Time zone in Shanghai
Shanghai 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.
Shanghai shares its time with Beijing.
Shanghai is 1,067 km from Beijing, the capital, and has the same time.
By the sun, noon in Shanghai falls at about 11:54 AM (on average over the year). The city lies at 121.47° 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 Shanghai.
Time difference with major cities
When it is 12:00 PM (noon) in Shanghai, 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, Shanghai does not.
Best time to call Shanghai from New York
To reach someone at work in Shanghai 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 Shanghai. 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 Shanghai.
For any other city, use the time zone converter or add it to the world clock.