Current Time in Shanghai

Mainland China used daylight saving time in the summers of 1986 to 1991, and the clocks have not moved since September 15, 1991. All of China, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, follows this one clock, so the table shows every change since 1970.

The time zone database has no clock change for Shanghai between 2026 and 2028.

With Tokyo, a 10:00 AM start is 9:00 AM in Shanghai. With London, 8:00 AM is 4:00 PM in January and 3:00 PM in July in Shanghai, so Europe reaches Shanghai late in its working day.

New York's evening is Shanghai's morning: 7:00 PM in New York is 8:00 AM the next day in January and 7:00 AM the next day in July in Shanghai.

For a live overlap finder, use the meeting scheduler or convert an exact time with the time zone converter.

Quick answer: Shanghai uses China Standard Time (CST) · UTC+8 year-round · no daylight saving.

Shanghai uses China Standard Time, UTC+8, with no daylight saving. Its IANA zone, Asia/Shanghai, is the one used for the whole of mainland China, so Shanghai and Beijing always read the same.

The abbreviation CST is shared with US Central Standard Time, so a message that says "9 AM CST" can mean either. For Shanghai, write "Shanghai time" or the zone identifier to remove the doubt.

Gaps with the West move by an hour when the other city changes clocks. When a Shanghai office opens at 9:00 AM, London reads 1:00 AM in January and 2:00 AM in July, and Los Angeles reads 5:00 PM the previous day in January and 6:00 PM the previous day in July.