Current time in Beijing
- Time zone
- Asia/Shanghai
- UTC offset
- UTC+08:00
- Abbreviation
- CST
- Daylight saving time
- Not observed
- Country
- China
- Population
- 18,960,744
Beijing time difference
How far Beijing is ahead of or behind the world's main business hubs right now. Daylight saving time is already applied where it is in effect.
| Compared with | Time difference | UTC offset |
|---|---|---|
| London | 7h behindChanges with DST | UTC+01:00 |
| New York City | 12h behindChanges with DST | UTC-04:00 |
| Los Angeles | 15h behindChanges with DST | UTC-07:00 |
| Chicago | 13h behindChanges with DST | UTC-05:00 |
| Tokyo | 1h ahead | UTC+09:00 |
| Dubai | 4h behind | UTC+04:00 |
Clock changes in Beijing
Beijing does not change its clocks: UTC+08:00 applies all year.
Sunrise, sunset and solar time in Beijing
- Sunrise today
- 6:11 AM
- Sunset today
- 5:56 PM
- Day length today
- 11 hours 45 minutes
- Solar noon today
- 12:03 PM
- Longest day
- 15 hours (June 21)
- Shortest day
- 9 hours 20 minutes (December 21)
On standard time, clocks in Beijing run 14 minutes ahead of the sun: solar noon comes at about 12:14 PM, not at 12:00 PM.
Time zone history since 1970
Seasonal clock changes: 1986–1991. The last one was on September 15, 1991; since then Beijing has stayed on UTC+08:00 all year.
Source: IANA time zone database, version 2025b.
Worth knowing
All of China officially uses one time zone, China Standard Time (UTC+8), although the country spans about five zones by longitude. In the far west, in Xinjiang, a local time two hours behind Beijing is also widely used.
China last used daylight saving time from 1986 to 1991.
Sources: IANA tz database: asia
Frequently asked questions
- What time zone is Beijing in?
- Beijing uses the Asia/Shanghai (CST) time zone and is currently on UTC+08:00.
- Does Beijing observe daylight saving time?
- No. Beijing stays on UTC+08:00 all year. Daylight saving time was last used there in 1991.