How Many Time Zones Are There in China?

Wondering how many time zones are there in China?

The quick and easy answer is one. There is only one time zone in China.

The longer answer is there's only one because of China's sociopolitical history. But before we can understand why China chose to have only one time zone, let's first look at why there are time zones in the first place.

Why do we have time zones?

Back in the day, people read time by using a sundial. This was fine until clocks were invented and transportation advanced in the late 1800s. Because the sun was in a different position in the sky depending on the location, it became increasingly difficult for train stations to schedule trains and not confuse their passengers.

Many people tried various solutions, but most of them made the matter worse rather than easier, especially when each area had its own standard time.

Finally, four different time zones were created in the United States to unify and simplify time for everyone. This way, all railroad stations could follow one system. Eventually, the world came to adopt the approach, resulting in a 24-hour time zone.

Why does China have only one time zone?

It is interesting to know China did actually use time zones at one point. However, in 1949, when the Communist Party came into power, this was abolished by Mao Zedong.

At the time, China just came out of two heavily divided parties. Its country was larger than the USA and it consisted of many ethnic minorities (the majority of it being the Han). Many people were divided in beliefs and there were huge economic disparities and gender inequalities. In short, China was very weak.

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The way Mao saw it, his first priority was to unify the people into one mind. This was the only way to make China stronger. He believed that if he could achieve that, China could finally catch up with the modern world.

Along with eliminating gender, economic, and social differences, time zones in China were also pushed into one. If the people were to be of one mind, they needed to use the same time. And which time zone did they choose? Beijing time because it is the capital of China.

Is having only one time zone a big deal in China?

There are pros and cons to having one shared time zone.

One pro is that no matter where you travel in China, be it Beijing or Kunming, Yunnan, it's going to be 8 AM. You don't need to worry about adjusting your clock or your phone to the right time zone. You can say to your family and friends what time they can reach you and they don't have to think about doing math because it's all the same. This is convenient in its own way.

The one big con, however, is again, is if it's 8 AM in Beijing, you can expect Kunming to be dark as night because guess what? Time should read some like 6 AM. This would mean that if you were to normally eat breakfast at 8 AM in the morning, you wouldn't be eating breakfast until 10 AM in Kunming.

In short, time in China can get really awkward for some places.

Not all countries use time zones

Despite China's decision, you'd be surprised to find out not all countries in the world uses multiple time zones. India and Argentina, for example, only use one time zone. Similar to China, India only uses one time zone to symbolize unity.

Whether you agree with Mao or not, it's interesting to note that the creation of time zones was to unify. China just made it their own.