Current time in Shanghai

China · UTC+8

--:----

Asia/Shanghai

UTC offset

UTC+8

Daylight Saving

No — not observed

Time zone ID

Asia/Shanghai

Business hours

9:00 AM – 6:00 PM CST (Monday–Friday)

About Shanghai's time zone

Shanghai follows China Standard Time (CST, UTC+8), the single time zone used across the entire People's Republic of China. Despite China spanning five natural time zones geographically, the government mandated a single time zone in 1949 for national unity. This means the sun rises past 10:00 AM in western Xinjiang during winter, while Shanghai sees sunrise around 7:00 AM. Shanghai is 8 hours ahead of London and 13 hours ahead of New York.

Best time to call Shanghai

Calling from	Recommended window
London	1:00 AM – 10:00 AM GMT
New York	8:00 PM – 5:00 AM ET
Dubai	4:00 AM – 1:00 PM GST
Sydney	11:00 AM – 8:00 PM AEST

Did you know? China's single time zone policy creates a curious phenomenon in Xinjiang, the westernmost province. Local Uyghur people often follow an unofficial 'Xinjiang Time' (UTC+6), two hours behind Beijing, for daily life — creating a situation where two simultaneous time systems operate in the same region depending on whether you're Han Chinese or Uyghur.

Cities in the same time zone