China Standard (CST)
Shanghai operates on China Standard (CST). This time zone does not observe Daylight Saving Time.
Time Zone: China Standard Time (CST) — Standard Offset: UTC+8 (CST) — DST: Not observed
Country: China
This city does not observe Daylight Saving Time. The UTC offset remains constant year-round, which simplifies international scheduling.
Despite spanning five geographical time zones, all of China operates on a single time zone: China Standard Time (UTC+8). This means when it's noon in Shanghai on the east coast, it's also officially noon in Kashgar in the far west — even though solar noon there doesn't occur until about 3 PM CST. This policy, instituted in 1949, simplifies domestic scheduling but creates unusual daily rhythms in western China. Shanghai, on the eastern coast, experiences the most 'normal' alignment between clock time and solar time.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) is one of the world's largest, trading from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM CST with a 90-minute lunch break (11:30 AM to 1:00 PM). Shanghai shares its time zone with Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei, creating an enormous same-time-zone financial corridor. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange operates on the same schedule. Together, Chinese markets represent a massive share of global equity trading volume.
Shanghai is 8 hours ahead of London and 13 ahead of New York. The Great Firewall of China affects digital communication — many Western platforms (Google, Slack, Zoom) are blocked, so coordinating with Chinese partners often requires WeChat, DingTalk, or Tencent Meeting. Time zone overlap with the US is minimal: 9 AM in Shanghai is 8 PM the previous night in New York. Most US-China calls happen at the extremes of both business days.
China experimented with DST from 1986 to 1991 but abandoned it. The permanent UTC+8 offset keeps things simple but means the gap with Western countries shifts when they change their clocks. Shanghai is 8 hours ahead of London in winter but only 7 ahead during British Summer Time. For US scheduling, the gap is 13 hours (EST) or 12 hours (EDT) from the East Coast.