Current Time in Shanghai

About time in Shanghai

Shanghai keeps China Standard Time at UTC+8, and remarkably the whole of China runs on this one clock even though the country spans roughly five geographic time zones from coast to far west. Be careful with the abbreviation CST here: it means China Standard Time, not US Central Standard Time, which also uses the letters CST but a completely different offset. China dropped daylight saving in the early 1990s, so the clock stays fixed all year. That means a sunrise in western China can come surprisingly late by the clock.

Shanghai does not make seasonal clock changes under its current rules. Its offset is UTC+8 (no DST). The live clock above reads Shanghai's local time directly from the IANA time zone database in your browser, using the rules installed on your device. Keep your browser updated when regional rules change. To plan a call or convert a specific moment, use the timezone converter or meeting planner linked below.

Daylight in Shanghai through 2026

Shanghai sits at about 31.2°N, 121.5°E. The longest day of 2026 is June 19, with 14h 11m between sunrise and sunset. The shortest is December 17, with 10h 07m, a difference of 4 h 4 min. At this latitude the seasons change day length noticeably but not dramatically, so the working day has usable daylight all year.

The earliest sunrise of the year comes around June 6 (04:49) and the latest sunset around June 27 (19:02). These are not exactly on the solstice because the sun’s position runs slightly ahead of or behind clock time during the year.

Solar noon, when the sun is highest, falls at about 12:01 local time in late March, 11:55 in late June and 11:51 in late December. In standard time the sun is highest at about 11:54 on average, close to 12:00, so the clock and the sun are well aligned in Shanghai.

Local clock times, including daylight saving where it applies. Calculated with the standard sunrise equation for the city centre; terrain and tall buildings can delay the visible sunrise.

Clock changes in Shanghai (2026–2027)

Shanghai keeps the same offset all year. No clock changes are scheduled in 2026 or 2027 under the time-zone rules used for this page. Its gap to cities that do observe daylight saving still changes when they move their clocks: in January Shanghai is 8 hours ahead of London and 13 hours ahead of New York.

Dates come from the IANA time zone database as bundled with this site’s build. Governments occasionally change rules at short notice; see our methodology.