Time in Taiwan

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
Simplified Chinese	国家标准时间
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Guójiā Biāozhǔn Shíjiān - Wade–Giles Guo2 ch'ia1 Piao1 chun3 Shih2 chien1 - IPA [kwɔ̌tɕjá pjɑ́ʊtʂwə̀n ʂɨ̌tɕjɛ́n]

The official time of the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, is defined by an UTC offset of +08:00. It is known as National Standard Time (國家標準時間). Previously, Chungyuan Standard Time was widely used by government as well as citizens.^[1]

History

Taiwan was using the Western Standard Time (西部標準時 Seibu Hyōjunji) at 120° longitude from January, 1896 to September, 1937 under Japanese rule. It was the same UTC+8 as Taiwan uses today. However, Taiwan started applying the Central Standard Time (中央標準時 Chūō Hyōjunji), the UTC+9 time used by Japan, from October, 1937 to 1945 until Japan lost Taiwan after World War II.

As a territory retroceded to the Republic of China (ROC) in 1945, Taiwan started using the Chungyuan Standard Time (中原標準時間), which is in the UTC+8 time zone. Although the Republic of China government was defeated in the Chinese Civil War a few years later, and retained its authority on Taiwan only, it still uses the term of Chungyuan, as the way people called it before the war. As it consists of highly political implication, implying the five different time zones when the ROC was still ruling China, the notation of Chungyuan has become less and less favorable in Taiwan. Recently, both government and citizens have abandoned the use of the name of Chungyuan, and various alternatives including Taiwan Standard Time, Taipei Time, or even Formosan Time (寶島時間) occur. Though never officially declared, National Standard Time is believed to be the official name of the time being used in the Republic of China, or Taiwan.

Present development

National Standard Time is now managed by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Republic of China.^[2] 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 Bureau International des Poids et Measures.^[3][4]

National Standard Time used in Taiwan is also the same as that used in the People's Republic of China, including its two territories of Hong Kong and Macau. All four places, however, have their own authorities managing the time.

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

See also

• Time in China
• Historical time zones of China, the time zones setup by the ROC on mainland China

References

1. ^ 仝澤蓉 (2005年1月12日). "標準局：沒有「中原」標準時間" (in zh-tw). http://home.dcilab.hinet.net/lcchen/spacenews/2005/20050111203.htm. Retrieved 9 月9日 2008. 
2. ^ "National Standard Time and Frequency Laboratory" (in zh-tw). Archived from the original on 31 December 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20051231050616/http://www.stdtime.gov.tw/chinese/home.htm. Retrieved 9 January 2006. 
3. ^ Calvin Lin (1998年11月). "時間網站 - 秒的由來" (in zh-tw). http://www.stdtime.gov.tw/Time/time/second.htm. Retrieved 9 January 2006. 
4. ^ "National Standard Time and Frequency Laboratory - History and Introduction" (in zh-tw). http://www.stdtime.gov.tw/. 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