Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the country has been in one time zone, China Standard Time (CST). This is eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the time zone used by the vast majority of the world. CST was chosen because it is in the centre of the country and coincides with Beijing, the capital.
The ASEAN time zone is home to 22.5% of the world's population. Parts of Indonesia, Russia, and Australia are also included, as are all of Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.
CST was first implemented in the early days of the People's Republic of China, when the country was divided into multiple time zones. However, during the Cultural Revolution in 1966, CST was chosen as the country's sole time zone. This was done to help unify the country and make it easier for individuals to communicate with one another.
Since then, CST has been China's sole time zone. This has posed some issues because the country is so huge that it crosses multiple time zones. For example, in Xinjiang region in China's extreme west, the sun rises two hours later than it does in Beijing.
This can make communication between people in different sections of the country challenging.Despite these issues, China has maintained a single time zone for nearly 50 years. This has contributed to the country's unification and made it easier for citizens to travel and conduct business within China.