Time difference between Beijing and New York

The gap is not the same all year

Every converter gives one number for this pair. That number is right for most of the year and wrong for part of it, because Beijing does not change its clocks and New York goes forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November.

Beijing stays put all year while New York moves, so the gap changes twice a year from New York's side alone. A recurring meeting set in Beijing's calendar will drift by an hour without anyone touching it.

About Beijing and New York

China runs one time zone for the whole country at UTC+8, which is about five hours of sun from end to end. In Kashgar, in the far west, the sun is overhead at around 3 PM by the official clock, and local life runs on an unofficial parallel schedule.

New York is UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 from March to November, and it changes clocks on different weekends from Europe — a fortnight in March and a week in autumn when the transatlantic gap is an hour off what everyone expects.

What 12 hours actually costs you

There is no shared working hour at all. Nine to five in Beijing is 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM in New York. Somebody has to be outside their working day, and the only question is who — so the useful thing is to decide that once rather than rediscover it every time.

The least painful slot is 5:00 AM in Beijing, which is 5:00 PM in New York. That is 4 hours outside somebody's working day and it is the smallest that gap gets — every other hour of the clock costs more.

At 12 hours the two are far enough apart that the date stops matching. Midday in Beijing is 12:00 AM the same day in New York, but the ends of the working day do cross. "Tomorrow morning" means different things to the two of you, and a deadline given without a date attached will be missed by one side or the other.

When they can both be at their desks

Nine-to-five in Beijing and nine-to-five in New York do not overlap at all. With 12 hours between them, one side is always outside working hours, and the practical question is which side takes the early start or the late finish rather than when to meet.

Beijing

New York

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How far apart Beijing and New York are

The shortest path over the Earth's surface between the two is 10,989 km (6,828 miles). Flown along that line, an airliner at cruising speed takes roughly 13 hours 45 minutes in the air — actual routings add to it, and whether a nonstop service exists depends on the airlines rather than the distance.

Over that distance you cross 12 hours of clock, which is where jet lag comes from: the body shifts by about an hour a day, so 12 hours takes most people 12 days or so to absorb. Flying west to New York is the easier direction — you gain the hours, and staying up later comes more naturally than going to bed early.

Beijing to New York, hour by hour

On the usual gap of 12 hours.

Frequently asked questions