Time difference between New York and Beijing

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 New York goes forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November and Beijing does not change its clocks.

Beijing stays put all year while New York moves, so a meeting fixed in Beijing's calendar shifts by an hour twice a year at New York's end.

About New York and Beijing

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.

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.

What 12 hours actually costs you

There is no shared working hour at all. Nine to five in New York is 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM in Beijing. 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 New York, which is 5:00 PM in Beijing. 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 New York is 12:00 AM the next day in Beijing. "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 New York and nine-to-five in Beijing 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.

New York

Beijing

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How far apart New York and Beijing 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 east to Beijing is the harder direction — you lose the hours and have to fall asleep earlier than your body wants.

New York to Beijing, hour by hour

On the usual gap of 12 hours.

Frequently asked questions