Re: About China time zones

I think I understand now your reason for wanting dual time zones now,  
thanks.

I think, though, that Jonathan Hassid has his the nail on the head as  
far as Xinjiang time is concerned with his access to Guo's article,  
that there is no single change or date from Xinjiang time to Beijing  
time. It seems rather that different ministries and different  
localities switched at different times. This process is continuing  
with, for example, the Urumqi city busses giving their start and stop  
times in Urumqi time as late as 2007 but not anymore.

There seem to be three general time periods. From '49 to the cultural  
revolution, when Han Chinese were very much a minority and generally  
more adoptive to Xinjiang ways, including Xinjiang Time. During the  
cultural revolution there were different groups claiming to be in  
charge and I believe it will be quite a mess to unravel if not  
impossible. Then the 80's there was a return to normalcy which  
included a return (or at least recognition) of pre-cultural revolution  
standards.

If you still think dual time zone is necessary, perhaps you can choose  
the most significant dates from Jonathan's report on Guo's article. I  
don't know... Just thinking out loud.

-mld

On Oct 13, 2010, at 1:34 AM, Olson, Arthur David (NIH/NCI) [E] wrote:

> Although folks in Xinjiang who use +8:00 could use Asia/Shanghai to  
> handle current times, Xinjiang and Shanghai had different offsets  
> before 1980.
> Separate zones are needed for correct handling of pre-1980 time  
> stamps.
>
> 				--ado