National Standard Time is the official

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

defined by an

UTC offset The UTC offset is the difference in hours and minutes between Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and the standard time at a particular place. This difference is expressed with respect to UTC and is generally shown in the format , , or . So if the ti ...

of +08:00. This standard is also known as Taipei Time (), Taiwan Time () or Taiwan Standard Time (TST).

History

The first

standard in

was enforced on 1 January 1896, the second year of

Taiwan under Japanese rule The Geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu, Penghu Islands, became an annexed territory of the Empire of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan Province, Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki a ...

. The standard was called with time offset of UTC+08:00, based on 120°E longitude. On 1 October 1937, the Western Standard Time zone was abolished and the , with time offset of UTC+09:00, was enforced in the entire country of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

including

. This time was used until the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. On 21 September 1945, the

Governor-General of Taiwan The governor-general of Taiwan (, shinjitai: ) was the head of the Government-General of Taiwan in the Japanese era (including Formosa and the Pescadores) when they were part of the Empire of Japan, from 1895 to 1945. The Japanese governors- ...

announced that the order issued in 1937 was revoked. Time Memorial Day was observed every 10 June from 1921 to 1941, which led to an increase in the observance of an official time. After the war's end, Taiwan was annexed to the five time zones system of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. It was classified in the "Chungyuan Standard Time" with a time offset of UTC+08:00. After the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

in 1949, the

Government of the Republic of China The Government of the Republic of China is the central government, national authority whose actual-controlled territory consists of Taiwan (island), main island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu Islands, Matsu, and list of islands of ...

retreated to Taiwan and lost nearly all the territory in

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

. Since then, the five time zones system was no longer implemented except for the Chungyuan Standard Time in Taiwan. Because the term "Chungyuan" (

Zhongyuan Zhongyuan (), the Central Plain(s), also known as Zhongtu (, lit. 'central land') and Zhongzhou (, lit. 'central region'), commonly refers to the part of the North China Plain surrounding the lower and middle reaches of the Yellow River, centere ...

) refers to the Central Plain of China, the government gradually phased out the name in favor of "National Standard Time". However, some radio channels continued using "Chungyuan", most notably the Broadcasting Corporation of China until 2007. Other alternatives include "Taiwan Standard Time" () and "Taipei Time" ().

Daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (Daylight saving time in the United States, United States and Daylight saving time in Canada, Canada), or summer time (British Summer Time, United Kingdom, ...

was implemented in

after the Second World War on the summer of 1946–1961, 1974, 1975, 1979. In October 2017, a petition took place to change the offset to UTC+09:00, which was responded by an assessment of potential impact by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Present development

National Standard Time is now managed by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The time is released according to the caesium

atomic clocks An atomic clock is a clock that measures time by monitoring the resonant frequency of atoms. It is based on atoms having different energy levels. Electron states in an atom are associated with different energy levels, and in transitions betwee ...

aggregated by National Standard Time and Frequency Laboratory under

Chunghwa Telecom Chunghwa Telecom (), officially Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., is the largest integrated Telecommunications company, telecommunications service provider in Taiwan, providing Public switched telephone network, PSTN, mobile phone, and broadband se ...

after consulting the data provided by

International Bureau of Weights and Measures The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (, BIPM) is an List of intergovernmental organizations, intergovernmental organisation, through which its 64 member-states act on measurement standards in areas including chemistry, ionising radi ...

. National Standard Time used in

is also the same as

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

, Ulaanbaatar

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

and Central

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

IANA time zone database

The

IANA time zone database The tz database is a collaborative compilation of information about the world's time zones and rules for observing daylight saving time, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems. Paul Eggert has been its editor an ...

contains one zone for Taiwan, named Asia/Taipei.

Notes

Words in native languages

References

External links

Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Republic of China
{{DEFAULTSORT:Time In Taiwan Geography of Taiwan