Historical time zones of China

The time zones of China refer to the time zone divisions used in China between 1918 and 1949. The first time zone plan was proposed by the Central Observatory (now Beijing Ancient Observatory) of the Beiyang government in Peking (Beijing) in 1918. The proposal divided the country into five time zones: Kunlun (UTC+05:30), Sinkiang-Tibet (UTC+06:00), Kansu-Szechwan (UTC+07:00), Chungyuan (UTC+08:00) and Changpai (UTC+08:30). These time zones were ratified in 1939 by the Nationalist government in the Standard Time Conference, hosted by the Ministry of Interior of Executive Yuan. Because of the Second Sino-Japanese War, it was also stated that Kansu-Szechwan time shall be the sole national time during the war time. After the war in 1945, these five times zones were implemented national widely. In 1949, after the Chinese Civil War, the Central People's Government abolished the five time zones and announced to use a single time zone UTC+08:00 named Beijing Time (北京时间). The term Chungyuan Standard Time (中原標準時間) was still used by the Nationalist government on Taiwan until the early 2000s.

Overview of the time zones

Times zones of China from 1918 to 1949 (incl. claimed territories)

Color
Time offset	UTC+05:30	UTC+06:00	UTC+07:00	UTC+08:00	UTC+08:30
Name	Kunlun	Sinkiang-Tibet	Kansu-Szechwan	Chungyuan	Changpai
Chinese	崑崙時區	新藏時區	隴蜀時區	中原時區	長白時區
Pinyin	Kūnlún Shíqū	Xīn-Zàng Shíqū	Lǒng-Shǔ Shíqū	Zhōngyuán Shíqū	Chángbái Shíqū
Name origin	Kunlun Mountains	Xinjiang and Tibet	Gansu and Sichuan	The Central Plain	Changbai Mountains
Ref. longitude	82°30′E	90°E	105°E	120°E	127°30′E
Approx. present day tz database	CN Asia/Kashgar	CN Asia/Urumqi MN Asia/Hovd	CN Asia/Chongqing MN Asia/Ulaanbaatar	CN Asia/Shanghai HK Asia/Hong_Kong MC Asia/Macau MN Asia/Choibalsan TW Asia/Taipei	CN Asia/Harbin

Time zones and administrative divisions

Time zone	Historical administrative divisions (as of 1945–49)	Present administrative divisions
Kunlun 崑崙時區 (UTC+05:30)	Western part of Sinkiang Western part of Tibet Area	Western part of Tibet Autonomous Region Western part of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
Sinkiang-Tibet 新藏時區 (UTC+06:00)	Eastern part of Sinkiang Eastern part of Tibet Area Western part of Sikang Western part of Tsinghai Western part of Mongolia Area (until 1946)	Eastern part of Tibet Autonomous Region Eastern part of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Western part of Qinghai Western part of Mongolia Tuva Republic of Russia
Kansu-Szechwan 隴蜀時區 (UTC+07:00)	Kansu Kwangsi Kweichow Ningsia Shensi Suiyuan Szechwan Yunnan Eastern part of Sikang Eastern part of Tsinghai Central part of Mongolia Area (until 1946)	Municipality of Chongqing Gansu Guizhou Shaanxi Sichuan Yunnan Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Western part of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Eastern part of Qinghai Central part of Mongolia
Chungyuan 中原時區 (UTC+08:00)	Anhwei Chahar Chekiang Fukien Honan Hopeh Hsingan Hunan Hupeh Jehol Kiangsi Kiangsu Kwangtung Liaoning Liaopeh Shansi Shantung Taiwan (after 1945) Eastern part of the Mongolia Area (until 1946) Hainan Special Administrative Region (split from Kwangtung in 1949)	Municipality of Beijing Municipality of Shanghai Municipality of Tianjin Anhui Fujian Guangdong Hainan Hebei Henan Hubei Hunan Jiangsu Jiangxi Shandong Shanxi Zhejiang Eastern part of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Western part of Liaoning Eastern part of Mongolia Taiwan
Changpai 長白時區 (UTC+08:30)	Antung Heilungkiang Hokiang Kirin Nunkiang Sungkiang	Heilongjiang Jilin Eastern part of Liaoning

Historical time zones of China

Overview of the time zones

Time zones and administrative divisions

See also