Time

Why is China following the same time? – Russia today Posting in CHAT: Russia The PRC differs from other countries in many ways, including the problem of time in the literal sense of the word. Here, over time, neither scientific nor worldly laws apply. Working hours are calculated exclusively in accordance with administrative internal regulations. It's the same time of day everywhere. And this despite the fact that the country is located in five time zones. The Chinese authorities abandoned UTC+8, a single time zone for the entire territory of the state. Since 1912, in China, as elsewhere in the world, time began to be measured - according to generally accepted standards. Astronomers divided the country into five separate zones: UTC+5:30, UTC+6, UTC+7, UTC+8, UTC+8:30 . This system operated until 1949. When power passed to the communists, they abolished the four zones. As a result, only one zone remained - UTC+8. This is Beijing time, similar to Irkutsk time. This option is quite inconvenient. The problem is that in the vast majority of states (80 percent) it does not correspond to a sunny day. If noon in Beijing occurs at 12:34, then in the East at 11:00, and in the West at 15:00. The provinces located in Western China suffer the most in this regard. There the sun sets below the horizon only around 21:00. All over the country, civil servants work the same hours. Only in its eastern part the sun is still shining at the end of the working day, and in the western part it is already twilight. For ordinary people, this approach is not very convenient. Moreover, their biorhythms are interrupted. The reform was carried out in 1949, during the emergence of the People's Republic of China. If we consider this matter from the ideological side, then this same time symbolizes the unity of the entire people, the community of the communist spirit. If we take the practical side of the matter, most of the Chinese population lives in the East, where there is one time zone. Everyone else is forced to adapt to the majority. More than 90 percent of the country's population lives in a small area and over time they are absolutely satisfied with this choice. This is also useful for the authorities, because they can maintain contact with the regions without worrying that somewhere people have already gone home due to the end of the working day. But there is an exception. People live in the western part of China, naturally unofficially, according to UTC+6 time. As a rule, these are employees who are not related to government agencies. The government and local authorities, of course, don’t really like all this. Source link Source link