China Time

[Randy W]

I only remember one member reporting about directly feeling the effects of this - http://candleforlove.com/forums/topic/46971-my-interview/?p=625303

 

The sun doesn't pass over Yulin until around 12:45, so I looked into this a little bit.

The China time zone is based on the 120° meridian, which passes closest (large city) to Hangzhou at 120° 10' 8", and passes pretty close to Taiwan

It takes about 45 minutes longer to reach Yulin, at 110° 9'.

China extends from around 84° East to around 135° East - what would normally be about 3 1/2 standard time zones, but is all lumped into one China Time Zone, on "Beijing" time. Beijing is at 116° 23' 18" - the sun would pass overhead there at around 12:15.

Okay get back to your life.

 

[Randy W]

The New York Times also picked up on this . . .

 

Rise at 11? China’s Single Time Zone Means Keeping Odd Hours

 

 

Why are the clocks in Urumqi, China, so far out of kilter with the cycles of the sun? Because of a legacy of Mao Zedong and the Communist Party’s desire for unified control. Though China is almost as wide as the continental United States, the whole country is officially in just one time zone — Beijing time.

 

. . .

 

 

So schools, airports and train stations operate at odd hours; national exams are sometimes given in the dead of night; and restaurants stay open for dinner into the wee hours.

The eccentricities of the clock also tend to divide people in Xinjiang by ethnicity. The Uighurs, Turkic-speaking Muslims who consider the region their homeland, tend to set their clocks two hours earlier, to more closely match the local day. But the Han Chinese who live there, members of China’s predominant ethnic group, generally follow Beijing time. The discrepancies can be a source of confusion and frustration, especially for younger people who frequently socialize across ethnic lines.