Working across China, the UK and the US: shared days and hours

Three clocks, two of them moving

Mainland China uses UTC+8 all year. London is on UTC+0 in winter and UTC+1 in summer; New York on UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 in summer. The two Western clocks do not change on the same day: in 2026 the UK goes back on 25 October and the US on 1 November, and in 2027 the US goes forward on 14 March and the UK on 28 March.

So the time difference between Beijing and London is 7 hours in summer and 8 in winter, and between Beijing and New York 12 or 13 hours. For a few weeks a year the gaps shift by an hour on one side only.

Days everyone works

Each place works about 62 to 64 days in the last quarter of 2026, but their days off rarely coincide. Mainland China is off from 1 to 7 October; the US federal calendar takes Columbus Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving; England and Wales take Christmas and a substitute day on Monday 28 December. Put together, only 56 of the 92 days are working days in all three:

Shanghai and London: two hours, then one

With ordinary 9:00 to 18:00 office hours, Shanghai and London share the end of the Chinese day and the start of the British one. While London is on summer time, that is two hours:

After the UK clocks go back

From 25 October London is an hour further behind, and the shared window shrinks to one hour, 17:00 to 18:00 in Beijing. It stays that way until the UK clocks go forward again on 28 March 2027:

London and New York, and the odd week

London and New York normally share four hours, the London afternoon and the New York morning. Between 25 October and 1 November 2026 the UK is already on winter time while the US is still on summer time, and the shared window grows to five hours. The same happens between 14 and 28 March 2027:

Shanghai and New York: no office hours in common

Shanghai's working day ends before New York's begins. At 8:00 in New York it is 20:00 in Beijing while the US is on summer time, and 21:00 in winter. A question sent on Friday afternoon in New York arrives early on Saturday in Shanghai, so in practice a reply comes on Monday at the earliest.

All three at once

With 9:00 to 18:00 everywhere, there is no hour when Shanghai, London and New York are all at work. London is the bridge: its mornings overlap with Shanghai and its afternoons with New York. A three-way call means someone working early or late, and the cost moves when the clocks change.

Planning checklist

A few habits help a team spread across the three:

• Count lead times in working days on each side's calendar, not in calendar days.
• Mark the clock-change weeks in late March and late October, when meetings set in one time zone move in another.
• Hand work over at the end of each day: Shanghai to London in the Chinese afternoon, London to New York in the British afternoon.
• Remember mainland China's makeup Saturdays, when Chinese colleagues work while London and New York are off.

Questions

What is the time difference between Beijing and London?

Seven hours while the UK is on summer time, eight hours in winter. China does not change its clocks.

What is the time difference between Beijing and New York?

Twelve hours while the US is on summer time, thirteen hours in winter.

Why do London and New York share an extra hour in late October?

The UK goes back to winter time a week before the US. For that week London is four hours ahead of New York instead of five, so working hours overlap for five hours.

Can I use these numbers for mainland China next year?

Only once the State Council has published next year's holiday notice, usually in early November. Until then our tool shows those dates as not published.