China and US Time Difference: Best Times to Call Beijing

Last updated November 3, 2026 · Written by Han with AI assistance, fact-checked against official sources.

China runs on one clock, keeps it all year, and shares it with Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore, so every change in the gap to the US comes from the American side.

Compare New York and Shanghai on a date of your choice in the Meeting Planner. Shanghai and Beijing show the same time.

Beijing against every US time zone

The table is calculated from the time zone database for 2026. January shows US standard time and July shows US daylight saving time. Phoenix and Honolulu do not change their clocks, so their gap to Beijing stays the same all year.

The middle column is the start of the Chinese work week. When Beijing opens on Monday morning, the whole US is still on Sunday, from Sunday afternoon in Honolulu to Sunday evening in New York. The last column counts the hours when both cities sit inside a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. day. Only Honolulu and, in winter, Anchorage get any.

The two dates the gap changes

US daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. On those dates the gap to Beijing moves by one hour, and nothing changes in China. The next change is on Sunday, March 14, 2027, when US clocks spring forward.

A call fixed in Beijing time moves for the US side. A 9 a.m. Beijing meeting is at 8 p.m. the evening before in New York in winter and 9 p.m. in summer. A call fixed in New York time moves for the Chinese side instead. Decide which city owns the meeting time and name it in the invite. The guide to recurring meetings and clock changes shows how calendar apps handle this.

Beijing is already on tomorrow

At noon on a Wednesday in New York, it is 1 a.m. on Thursday in Beijing in winter and midnight in summer. From 11 a.m. in New York in winter, or noon in summer, Beijing is on the next day. On the West Coast that starts at 8 a.m. in winter and 9 a.m. in summer.

• A US Friday afternoon is a Chinese Saturday morning. A 5 p.m. Friday call from New York lands at 6 a.m. Saturday in Beijing in winter and 5 a.m. in summer.
• A Beijing Monday morning is a US Sunday evening. If you need a reply from a supplier on Monday, send the question before your weekend.
• Deadlines need a city. "End of day Friday" in Beijing means 5 p.m. Friday there, which is 4 a.m. Friday in New York in winter and 5 a.m. in summer.

Best times to call China from the US

New York and Beijing never share an hour of the 9-to-5 day, so someone has to stretch. From the East Coast, 8 to 10 p.m. reaches Beijing at 9 to 11 a.m. in winter and 8 to 10 a.m. in summer. From the West Coast, 5 to 7 p.m. reaches Beijing at the same hours, right after the Los Angeles office day.

Honolulu does best. Hawaii is 18 hours behind Beijing all year, so 3 to 5 p.m. in Honolulu is 9 to 11 a.m. the next day in Beijing, inside both working days.

For calls to family, the Beijing evening works as well. 8 to 10 p.m. in Beijing is 7 to 9 a.m. in New York in winter and 8 to 10 a.m. in summer.

One clock for all of China

China is wide from east to west but keeps a single standard time. The National Time Service Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences generates China's national standard time, eight hours ahead of UTC. In the far west the sun runs late against that clock. The time zone database lists Ürümqi as UTC+6, two hours behind Beijing, to reflect the unofficial local time many people in Xinjiang use. For business calls, assume Beijing Time unless the other person says otherwise.

China did try summer time. The time zone database shows clocks moving forward one hour each spring from 1986 to 1991, from mid-April (early May in 1986) to mid-September. Since 1992 the clock has stayed on UTC+8 all year.

Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore share the hour

Much of East and Southeast Asia sits on the same UTC+8 clock, so one US table covers them all. The last column comes from the same database and shows the last year each place spent any of January or July on another offset.

The Hong Kong Observatory dates Hong Kong Time, 8 hours ahead of Greenwich, to 1904, and its summer time table shows the last period in 1979. The time zone database shows Singapore and Kuala Lumpur half an hour behind, on UTC+7:30, until the end of 1981, and on UTC+8 from January 1, 1982. The Philippines and US guide covers Manila in detail.

CST means two things

China Standard Time is often written CST, and so is US Central Standard Time. An invite that says "9 a.m. CST" could mean Beijing or Chicago, 14 hours apart in winter. Write "Beijing time" or "UTC+8" for China, and "Central" or CST (Central) for the US. Put both dates in the invite, because the two sides are usually on different days.

Quick checks before you book

• Write both dates, not just both times: "Tuesday 8 p.m. New York / Wednesday 9 a.m. Beijing".
• Check the weeks after the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. Those are the weeks when a fixed call shifts by an hour on one side.
• Arizona outside the Navajo Nation and Hawaii keep the same gap to Beijing all year, so a Phoenix and Beijing team can keep one schedule.

Open the Meeting Planner to test a time, or see the city pages for Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York and Los Angeles. The Asia and Pacific time zones guide covers China's neighbors, and South Korea and US Time Difference works through the same problem for Seoul.