China Time Zone - Chungyuan Standard Time - 中原標準時間
The two political entities currently using "China" as part of their official name, the People's Republic of China (PRC) (including mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau) and the Republic of China (ROC) (commonly referred to as Taiwan) are in the same time zone which is eight hours ahead of the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+8). Before the founding of PRC in 1949, when the whole Chinese region was governed by ROC, there were five time zones in China.
Although all jurisdictions within the region are placed under the same time zone, for historical and political reasons, different jurisdictions keep their own time standard with their own names.
* In mainland China, the time standard is called Beijing Time (北京时间) domestically but is commonly referred to as China Standard Time internationally. A summer time was observed in 1919 in Tianjin and Shanghai, and part of China from 1935 to 1962, and again the whole country from 1986 through 1991.
* In Hong Kong, the standard is called Hong Kong Time.
* In Macau, the standard is called Macau Standard Time.
* In Taiwan, the standard is officially called National Standard Time (國家標準時間) but has been commonly referred to as Chungyuan Standard Time (中原標準時間, Central Standard Time), Taipei Time (台北時間), and since late 2000s Taiwan Standard Time (台灣標準時間).
Time zones were first set up and made official in China in 1912 under the Republic of China. The country was divided into five time zones, namely GMT+5.5, GMT+6, GMT+7, GMT+8 and GMT+8.5. Before that, time varied, while astrological predictions were conducted according to the time standard based on the locations of then capitals of the imperial dynasties.
After the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Communist Party took over mainland China and established the People's Republic of China. The government of the then ruling Kuomintang (KMT), while retaining control of Taiwan and other minor islands), was relocated to Taipei.
The People's Republic of China established one single time zone (UTC+8) for the entirety of its claimed territories, while the Republic of China continued to place the remaining territories of Taiwan under the UTC+8 time zone. In other words, although the two had different policies, the outcome was that they were all placed under the same time zone.
From the mid-19th century until 1997, Hong Kong and 1999, Macau had, respectively, been colonies of the United Kingdom and Portugal. Despite being part of the People's Republic of China today, as special administrative regions they have retained their own policies regarding time zones over the respective regions. Due to their geographical locations, both are within the GMT/UTC+8 time zone.
