The timezone CST in Taiwan

Only 1 nationwide time zone

UTC	+8
Standard time:	China Standard Time (CST)
Daylight saving time:	discontinued 1979

Taiwan has an east-west extension of 3.4 degrees of longitude. Given the country's location in East Asia, this corresponds to about 350 kilometers. With such a small extent the course of the sun at different positions in the country hardly matters. The position of the sun in the west of the country deviates from that in the east only about 14 minutes. This means the sun rises and sets 14 minutes later in the west than in the east.


The China Standard Time also applies in Macao and in parts of China.

No more daylight saving time in Taiwan

Due to the sun's orbit around the equator, the days are longer in summer (June to September in the northern hemisphere). Countries that switch to daylight saving time in the summer months align the daylight phase with the human rhythm. Unused bright morning hours are thus shifted into the evening (more information on daylight saving time here).

Due to the relative proximity to the equator, the impact in Taiwan is not particularly large. Taipei is only 2,800 km from the equator. A day in midsummer would then not last from 05:03 to 18:47, but from 06:03 to 19:47. The effect would be quite noticeable in the evening, but the sun rising later in the morning falls at a time when many people are already awake. Thus, in 1979, the decision was made to finally abandon daylight saving time in Taiwan.

Changes in Daylight Saving Times

In Taiwan Daylight Saving Time has been observed since 1946 until 09/30/1979.