How many time zones are there in China?

The time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08:00, which is eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, despite China spanning five geographical time zones. The official national standard time is called Beijing Time domestically and China Standard Time (CST) internationally. The special administrative regions (SARs) maintain their own time authorities, with standards called Hong Kong Time and Macau Standard Time. There is no difference between Beijing time and the times in the SARs.

Hong Kong maintains its own time authority after transfer of sovereignty in 1997. The Hong Kong Time is UTC+08:00 all year round, without daylight saving observation. Greenwich Mean Time was adopted as the basis in 1904, and UTC was adopted as a standard in 1972.

Macau maintains its own time authority after transfer of sovereignty in 1999. The Macao Standard Time is the time in Macau. The time is UTC+08:00 all year round, and daylight saving time is not applied.