Time in Taiwan

National Standard Time
National Standard Time digital clock of Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI), Taiwan.
Simplified Chinese	国家标准时间
Traditional Chinese	國家標準時間
Transcriptions Hakka Romanization Koet-kâ Phêu-chún Sṳ̀-kiên Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guójiā Biāozhǔn Shíjiān Tongyong Pinyin Guójia Biaojhǔn Shíhjian Wade–Giles Kuo²-chia¹ Piao¹-chun³ Shih²-chien¹ IPA [kwɔ̌tɕjá pjɑ́ʊtʂùn ʂɨ̌tɕján] Gwoyeu Romatzyh Gwojia Biaujuun Shyrjian MPS2 Guójiā Biāujǔn Shŕjiān Bopomofo ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄐㄧㄚ ㄅㄧㄠ ㄓㄨㄣˇ ㄕˊ ㄐㄧㄢ Min Hokkien POJ Kok-ka Piau-chún Sî-kan Taiwanese Romanization Kok-ka Piau-tsún Sî-kan

The official time zone of Taiwan is defined by an UTC offset of +08:00. It is known as National Standard Time (國家標準時間). Previously, Chungyuan Standard Time (also UTC+08:00) was widely used by government and citizens.^[1]

History

Taiwan used Western Standard Time (西部標準時 Seibu Hyōjunji) of UTC+08:00, based on 120° longitude, from January 1896 to September 1937 under Japanese rule. It was the same UTC+8 as Taiwan uses today. However Taiwan used Central Standard Time (中央標準時 Chūō Hyōjunji), the UTC+9 time used by Japan, from October 1937 until 1945 until Japan lost Taiwan after World War II.

As a territory retroceded to the Republic of China (ROC) in 1945, Taiwan went back to Chungyuan Standard Time (中原標準時間) (UTC+8). Although the Republic of China government was defeated in the Chinese Civil War a few years later, and retained its authority on Taiwan only, it still uses the name "Chungyuan", as people called it before the war. As there are highly political implications, implying the five different time zones when the ROC was still ruling China, the term "Chungyuan" has become less and less popular in Taiwan. Recently, both government and citizens abandoned the use of the name "Chungyuan", and various alternatives including Taiwan Standard Time, Taipei Time, and even Formosan Time (寶島時間) occur. Though never officially announced, National Standard Time is believed to be the current official name of the time zone in Taiwan.

Present development

National Standard Time is now managed by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.^[2] The time is released according to the caesium atomic clocks aggregated by National Standard Time and Frequency Laboratory under Chunghwa Telecom after consulting the data provided by Bureau International des Poids et Measures.^[3][4]

National Standard Time used in Taiwan is also the same as that used in the China, including its two territories of Hong Kong and Macau. All four places, however, have their own authorities managing the time.

IANA time zone database

The IANA time zone database contains one zone for Taiwan, named Asia/Taipei.

See also

• Time in China
• Time in Japan
• Historical time zones of China, the time zones setup by the Republic of China on mainland China

References

External links

• Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Republic of China
• National Standard Time and Frequency Laboratory