If you thought this blog post would be about my time so far in China, it’s not.  I’ve been cooped up inside studying the past few days but my mind has been mulling over one thing.  Time in China is strange.

Firstly, there is only one time zone in China.  Yup, just one! However, it’s not that all of China fits into one time zone.  It’s that China’s government decided everyone would set their clocks to Beijing time.  One China, One Time.

Now to a frequent traveler, this sounds like a dream come true.  No re-setting watches and clocks.  No dealing with going to bed a few hours before or after your body is used to.  In theory, it seems like a great idea.

Since China is a massive country though, this system proves difficult for those not near Beijing.  For example, in the western part of China near Kazakhstan, the Chinese people living near the border must endure at least a two hour time difference between them and their close foreign neighbors.

I understand that time zones are very finicky and often manipulated by humans for convenience (ie moving the line so one town can be in the same time zone).  Though in my opinion, if China is already choosing to follow GMT for Beijing, it’s kind of silly/annoying that they would not follow the time zone division based off the position of the other regions in China in regards to the sun.

I don’t know if these two things are directly related but China does not have a daylight savings time.  Therefore, I woke up in a panic the other day checking multiple clocks to ensure that I didn’t miss my Chinese class for nothing! Note: Since you all are on day light savings time- there is now a 13 hour time difference, not 12.

If you continued to read this blog post hoping I would, in addition to explaining all about time, secretly tell you about my time (as in experience) in China, I’ll indulge.  I got a 90.5 on my Chinese midterm 🙂