Time in Taiwan

National Standard Time^[I] is the official time zone in Taiwan defined by an UTC offset of +08:00. This standard is also known as Taipei Time (臺北時間) or Taiwan Time (臺灣時間).^[1]

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

History

Main articles: Japan Standard Time and Historical time zones of China

History of time standard in Taiwan

Time offset	Name	Character	Romanization	Start date	End date
UTC+08:00	Western Standard Time	西部標準時	Seibu Hyōjunji	1896-01-01	1937-09-30
UTC+09:00	Central Standard Time	中央標準時	Chūō Hyōjunji	1937-10-01	1945-09-20
UTC+08:00	Western Standard Time	西部標準時	Seibu Hyōjunji	1945-09-21	1945-10-25
UTC+08:00	Chungyuan Standard Time	中原標準時間	Zhōngyuán Biāozhǔn Shíjiān	1945-10-25	Early 2000s
UTC+08:00	National Standard Time	國家標準時間	Guójiā Biāozhǔn Shíjiān	2000s

The first time zone standard in Taiwan was enforced on 1 January 1896,^[2] the second year of Taiwan under Japanese rule. The standard was called Western Standard Time (西部標準時) 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 Central Standard Time (中央標準時), with time offset of UTC+09:00, was enforced in the entire country of Japan including Taiwan. This time was used until the end of the Second World War. On 21 September 1945, the Governor-General of Taiwan announced that the order issued in 1937 was revoked.^[3] Time Memorial Day was observed every 10 June from 1921 to 1941, which led to an increase in the observance of an official time.^[2]

After the war's end, Taiwan was annexed to the five time zones system of the Republic of China and was classified in the "Chungyuan Standard Time" with time offset of UTC+08:00. After the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan and lost nearly all the territory in mainland China. Since then, the five time zones system was no longer implemented except the Chungyuan Standard Time in Taiwan. Due to the fact that the term "Chungyuan" (Zhongyuan) refers to the Central Plain of China, the government gradually phased out the name in favor of "National Standard Time", though some radio channels continued using "Chungyuan", most notably the Broadcasting Corporation of China until 2007.^[4][5] Other alternatives include "Taiwan Standard Time" (臺灣標準時間), "Taipei Time" (臺北時間) and "Formosan Time" (寶島時間).

Daylight saving time was implemented in Taiwan after the Second World War on the summer of 1946–1961, 1974, 1975, 1979.^[6]

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.^[7]

Standard time in Taiwan since 1896
Year	Date	Change of time	Notes	UTC offset after the Change
1896	January 1	—	Introduction of Western Standard Time	8:00
1937	October 1	+1:00	Introduction of Central Standard Time	9:00
1945	September 21	-1:00	Introduction of Western Standard Time	8:00
1945	October 25	0:00	Introduction of Chungyuan Standard Time	8:00
1946	May 15	+1:00	Start of summer time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of summer time	8:00
1947	April 15	+1:00	Start of summer time	9:00
	November 1	-1:00	End of summer time	8:00
1948	May 1	+1:00	Start of summer time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of summer time	8:00
1949	May 1	+1:00	Start of summer time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of summer time	8:00
1950	May 1	+1:00	Start of summer time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of summer time	8:00
1951	May 1	+1:00	Start of summer time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of summer time	8:00
1952	March 1	+1:00	Start of daylight saving time	9:00
	November 1	-1:00	End of daylight saving time	8:00
1953	April 1	+1:00	Start of daylight saving time	9:00
	November 1	-1:00	End of daylight saving time	8:00
1954	April 1	+1:00	Start of daylight saving time	9:00
	November 1	-1:00	End of daylight saving time	8:00
1955	April 1	+1:00	Start of daylight saving time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of daylight saving time	8:00
1956	April 1	+1:00	Start of daylight saving time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of daylight saving time	8:00
1957	April 1	+1:00	Start of summer time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of summer time	8:00
1958	April 1	+1:00	Start of summer time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of summer time	8:00
1959	April 1	+1:00	Start of summer time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of summer time	8:00
1960	June 1	+1:00	Start of summer time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of summer time	8:00
1961	June 1	+1:00	Start of summer time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of summer time	8:00
1974	April 1	+1:00	Start of daylight saving time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of daylight saving time	8:00
1975	April 1	+1:00	Start of daylight saving time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of daylight saving time	8:00
1979	July 1	+1:00	Start of daylight saving time	9:00
	October 1	-1:00	End of daylight saving time	8:00
Early 2000s		0:00	Introduction of National Standard Time	8:00

Present development

National Standard Time is now managed by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.^[8] 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 International Bureau of Weights and Measures.^[9][10]

National Standard Time used in Taiwan is also the same as mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Ulaanbaatar Mongolia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Western Australia, Brunei and Central Indonesia.

IANA time zone database

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

c.c.*	coordinates*	TZ*	comments*	Standard time	Summer time
TW	+2503+12130	Asia/Taipei		tUTC+08:00	—

Notes

Words in native languages

1. • Traditional Chinese script: 國家標準時間
   • Mandarin Pinyin: Guójiā biāozhǔn shíjiān
   • Hokkien: Kok-ka piau-chún sî-kan

References

1. 仝澤蓉 (2005-01-12). (in Chinese). Archived from the original on December 5, 2005. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
2. Han Cheung (7 June 2020). "Taiwan in Time: Colonial masters of time". Taipei Times. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
3. wikisource:ja:臺灣ノ標準時ニ關スル件 (昭和二十年台湾総督府告示第三百八十六号)
4. "中原標準時間 早已不適用 - 生活 - 自由時報電子報". 自由電子報 (in Chinese). 2005-06-25. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
5. "「中原標準時間」 中廣報時不復見". TVBS (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 2020-04-01.
6. Yu-Cheng Chuang (Jul 11, 2014) [台灣日光節約時間之考據 https://blog.yorkxin.org/posts/2014/07/11/dst-in-taiwan-study/]
7. "我國應調整時區至GMT +9". join.gov.tw (in Traditional Chinese). Retrieved 1 January 2018.
8. (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 31 December 2005. Retrieved 9 January 2006.
9. Calvin Lin (November 1998). 時間網站 - 秒的由來 (in Chinese). Retrieved 9 January 2006.
10. "National Standard Time and Frequency Laboratory - History and Introduction" (in Chinese). Retrieved 9 January 2006.

External links

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