Time in Shanghai
The current local time and date in Shanghai, its time zone, and a converter to your own time.
Detecting your time zone to suggest the best hour to call…
Shanghai, China's largest city and financial hub on the eastern seaboard, runs on China Standard Time (UTC+8) with no daylight saving, the same fixed offset the entire country keeps year-round.
Shanghai stays on UTC+8 all year and does not change its clocks for daylight saving time.
Compare to your time zone
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Compare Shanghai with another city
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See also: Population of China
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FAQ
What time is it in Shanghai right now?
Shanghai is on UTC+8 all year round, which is 8 hours ahead of UTC. So when it is 12:00 UTC, the local time in Shanghai is 20:00. The live clock at the top of this page applies that offset to the current moment and refreshes every second.
What time zone is Shanghai in?
Shanghai uses the Asia/Shanghai time zone, shown as GMT+8. Shanghai stays on UTC+8 all year and does not change its clocks for daylight saving time. The "compare to your time zone" section above converts any Shanghai time into your own local time instantly.
Does Shanghai observe daylight saving time?
No — Shanghai does not observe daylight saving time. Its clocks stay on UTC+8 every day of the year, so its offset from UTC never moves. The difference between Shanghai and another city therefore changes only when that other city starts or ends its own daylight saving period. If you are scheduling across the seasons, treat Shanghai as the fixed end of the pair and check the other city's dates instead.
How do I convert Shanghai time to my time zone?
Convert Shanghai time by taking its UTC+8 offset and applying the difference to your own: subtract Shanghai's offset from UTC to get the UTC time, then add your own offset. For example, 09:00 in Shanghai is 01:00 UTC. The converter above does this automatically after detecting your device's time zone, and the World Clock meeting planner lays several cities out on one colour-coded 24-hour grid.
What is the dialing code for Shanghai?
The dialing code for Shanghai is +86. To call from abroad, dial +86 before the local number. The card at the top of this page shows it alongside the live local time so you can check it is a reasonable hour before you call.
What are the best hours to call Shanghai?
Standard business hours in Shanghai — 9:00 to 17:00 local time — correspond to 01:00 to 09:00 UTC. Convert that UTC window into your own zone to find the overlap. The "best time to call" line above does this for you, using waking hours of roughly 8am–9pm on both ends so neither side is called at night.
Learn how time zones work
UTC & GMT explained · Daylight saving explained · How to convert a time between two cities