Do you know why China has one time zone?

The division into time zones did not always exist. Back in the 19th century, different countries and even cities lived according to their time, focusing on daylight hours. The new system came about thanks to the invention railway. Trains had to run according to a clear schedule so that passengers would not wait for transport and would not be late.

In 1884, at a conference in Washington, delegates from 25 countries signed zero meridian agreement. The British Greenwich was chosen as a starting point - the Royal Observatory is located there. Then they decided to divide the planet into 24 time zones, although in fact there are more of them: in some countries, time displaced just 30 or 45 minutes.

Today it seems commonplace that large states have many time zones. For example, in Russia they as many as 11. When residents of Kaliningrad get ready for work, people in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky are already on their way home from the office. In USA time zones six: Wakes up early NY, and later than all - Honolulu. But in China, which is even larger than the United States, everyone lives at the same time.

History developed like this. In 1912 in China established five time zones. At the same time, the country was fragmented, and some territories were not actually subordinate to the central government. In 1949, after the communists united China, Chairman of the Mao Zedong Party issued a decree: change to Beijing time "for the purpose of national unity". By the way, the decision was not unique: in India, which gained independence in 1947, too introduced one time zone.

Now the difference with Greenwich is +8 hours, and the time zone itself is called CST - Chinese Standard Time. This system is not suitable for everyone. For example, in the northwestern autonomy of Xinjiang, national exams hand over late at night, and restaurants open for dinner into the wee hours. Uighurs and Turkic-speaking Muslims living in the region set the clock forward 2 hours. And the Han people usually follow the Beijing time. So representatives of different ethnic groups It happens difficult to arrange a meeting. But so far there is no talk of returning time zones.