.... Contact a business in China .. Times

[jaF0]

The whole country appears to be one time zone, so how can it be the same time everywhere with different daylight/night?

When do businesses operate there? What are normal 'open' times where someone would answer a phone?

 

[Bramblethorn]

The whole country appears to be one time zone, so how can it be the same time everywhere with different daylight/night?

Yeah, this is a serious issue in western China, where Beijing Standard Time is badly out of sync with sunrise and sunset.

According to this article, the situation is complex - Han Chinese go by Beijing Standard Time, but Uighurs are more likely to use a local time zone so it's not always clear which time system somebody is working in:

https://www.theatlantic.com/china/a...has-one-time-zone-and-thats-a-problem/281136/

Noting that the article is dated 2013, and China has been cracking down on Uighurs very heavily in recent years, so it's possible that things have changed since it was written.

When do businesses operate there? What are normal 'open' times where someone would answer a phone?

No first-hand experience, but if the info in the article is still current, it sounds like it might depend on who's running the business and how strongly affiliated they are with Beijing.

 

[jckontharocks]

The whole country appears to be one time zone, so how can it be the same time everywhere with different daylight/night?

When do businesses operate there? What are normal 'open' times where someone would answer a phone?

You'll be better off using email and requesting they call you. Be polite and approachable. If the Chinese think they will provide any sort of bad news they will go radio silent.

My company has regular Monday morning calls to Shenzhen at 8am EST.

Hope that helps.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Each company must start its working day no later than 8 or at least 9 o'clock in the morning. Isn't that logical? When you can not try to call, the only time you cannot call is late in the evening, night, or lunch break, of course. In any case, it is strange that you are asking such a question. I remember that everyone spent a lot of time recalculating data in our office, entering everything into the database.

Hey all, when you see somebody dig up an old thread like this for no obvious reason, please take a moment to check their posting history for spammy links and report them if you find them. These assholes will make a post like this and then edit it later to add SEO spam.

 

[gxnn]

Let me tell you what, since I am a Chinese now living in China.

Vast as it is, China uses Beijing Time and that is the offical time we use, but in Xinjiang, local people are allowed to use Urumqi Time, Urumqi being the capital city of Xinjiang Autonomous Region (equivalent to a province). This can be called cold knowledge, even many Chinese people do not know about it.

Office time is 8am-12pm, 2:30pm-5:30pm, with a little flexibility, according to the different actual agency or company. For public companies or agencies, that means those who get funds from the government budget, there is always a short break in between the morning and afternoon shifts.

But now with the intensity of business promotion and attracting more foreign capitals, some government offices are encouraged or required to work from 9am-5pm, with one hour from 12pm-1pm given for lunch break.

Most of Chinese are friendly, so even you have made a wrong number or wrong hour, they do not mind, especially when you speak English, because they all respect Americans or Europeans (white only).