How to Tell Time in China

As with any foreign country, understanding how to read and tell the time in China will be an important language skill for anyone travelling or living in the country. Fortunately, the process of telling time in China is a relatively straightforward one. In the following article, we will look at how to tell time in China in both digital clock and analog clock formats.

Digital Clocks in China

Digital clocks are the easiest format to use when telling time in China. Most digital clocks follow a 24-hour format, which means that all times are represented in one of two formats: either all four digits (1111 for 11:11am, for example) or just the hour and minutes (1111 for 11:11am). To fully understand this type of format, it is important to know that all times are counted from the start of a day at 0000 to the end of a day at 2359.

Analog Clocks in China

For analog clocks in China, the process is a little more complicated. Instead of having “o’clock”, the term “diǎn (点)” is used when referring to an exact hour. All hours following the initial hour have a “fēn (分)” appended to the number, just as in the English language. For example, when referencing a time on an analog clock, one may refer to it as “five diǎn five fēn” (5点5分) for 5:05.

Time Zones in China

It is important to note that since China is a large country, there are some regions where the standard time used differs from that of the capital city, Beijing. For example, the Xinjiang province (located in north-western China) uses the same time zone as neighbouring Central Asian countries, while Tibet (located in south-western China) uses a time zone that is two hours ahead of Beijing Standard Time. It is important to take this into account when travelling in these parts of the country.

In conclusion, it is clear that understanding how to tell time in China is an important part of being able to travel and conduct business in the country. For digital clocks, the 24-hour format is used, while analog clocks require a different method of telling time. Additionally, some time zones in China differ from the one used in the capital city of Beijing, so it is important to be aware of this when travelling in other parts of the country.