China is a vast country encompassing a geographic expanse of the equivalent of five time zones, yet it maintains only one time zone. This single time zone is China Standard Time, or Beijing Time, which is Greenwich Mean Time, plus 8 hours (GMT+8). China covers a range of 60 degrees longitude. It is traditional for every 15 degrees to be considered one time zone, with one-hour differentials. Northern China has an additional 15 degrees longitude, which accounts for the fifth time zone.
The Chinese government promotes consistency, so the entire country has only one time zone. China does not observe daylight savings time. This can be inconvenient for the people living in the far eastern and western portions of the country as the sun rises and sets too early or too late.