Hong Kong Time Now

What this page shows

So you want to know what time it is in Hong Kong right now. Maybe you have a call with someone there, a flight to catch, a market open to track, or someone to reach before their evening is over. That is what the clock at the top of this page is for. It shows the current time in Hong Kong and ticks forward every second, so there is nothing for you to work out by hand.

Wherever in the world you are reading this from, the clock tracks Hong Kong and keeps itself right on its own. And Hong Kong time is simple, because it never changes through the year, as the next section explains.

Hong Kong does not change its clocks

Here is the part worth knowing about Hong Kong time, and it makes things easy. Hong Kong does not use daylight saving. There is no spring forward and no fall back, so it stays on the same clock all year round, Hong Kong Time, eight hours ahead of UTC.

Hong Kong did use daylight saving on and off in the past, but it stopped after 1979 and has not used it since. So there are no change dates to track here. Whenever you look, Hong Kong is at UTC plus 8, and the clock above simply shows that time.

What time zone Hong Kong is in

Hong Kong runs on Hong Kong Time, eight hours ahead of UTC, held every day of the year. That is the same offset as mainland China next door and as Singapore further south, so this whole stretch of Asia keeps a common clock.

For a city that is one of the world's leading financial centres, the steady clock matters. Hong Kong's trading day opens well ahead of Europe and a long way ahead of the Americas, and because it shares UTC plus 8 with the mainland and with its great rival Singapore, the major Asian financial hubs all run on the same hour. There is no daylight saving to nudge the markets back and forth, so the schedule is the same the year round.

Time difference from Hong Kong to other cities

Hong Kong never changes its clocks, so the gap to other fixed-offset places stays the same all year. The places that do use daylight saving, like London and New York, shift by an hour against Hong Kong between their winter and summer. Here is the quick reference, assuming it is 12 noon in Hong Kong.

A few quick examples

Let us run a few, so you can see how this works.

Say it is 12 noon in Hong Kong. Shenzhen across the border reads the same, 12 noon, as does Singapore. Tokyo and Seoul are an hour ahead at 1 in the afternoon, while Mumbai is two and a half hours behind at 9:30 in the morning.

Now the long hauls west. In the winter, London is eight hours behind Hong Kong, so 12 noon here is 4 in the morning in London, and New York, thirteen hours behind, is still at 11 the previous evening. Midday in Hong Kong lands in the small hours across Europe and the Americas.

Because those places use daylight saving and Hong Kong does not, the gap shifts by an hour in their summer. London moves to seven hours behind and New York to twelve. So for a call that has to land just right, check the live clock rather than the rule of thumb.

A couple of things about Hong Kong time

Hong Kong sits well to the south, at about 22 degrees north, just inside the subtropics, so the length of the day stays fairly even through the year. Around midsummer there are roughly thirteen and a half hours between sunrise and sunset, and around midwinter still close to eleven, a gentle swing compared with cities further north.

On the clock-against-sun question, Hong Kong runs a little behind the sun. The UTC plus 8 clock fits the line of longitude through the east of China, and Hong Kong sits some way west of it, so the sun reaches its highest a little after 12 noon by the clock, at around half past twelve in the middle of the year. It is a modest lean, and a steady one, since the clock never shifts.

Other places on the same time

A good few places keep the same time as Hong Kong on UTC plus 8. Here are some to jump to:

• Shenzhen time now, just across the border
• Macau time now, across the delta
• Singapore time now, also UTC plus 8

And if it is the global reference Hong Kong is measured from that you are after, see UTC Time Now.

Questions people ask

What time is it in Hong Kong right now?

The clock near the top of this page is the answer, and it updates every second. Hong Kong does not use daylight saving, so it stays on the same time all year, and the time shown is always correct.

Does Hong Kong change its clocks for daylight saving?

No. Hong Kong used daylight saving on and off in the past but stopped after 1979. It has stayed on Hong Kong Time, UTC plus 8, ever since, with no seasonal change.

Is Hong Kong the same time as mainland China?

Yes. Both are on UTC plus 8 and neither uses daylight saving, so Hong Kong always reads the same clock as Shenzhen, Beijing, and the rest of the mainland.

What time zone is Hong Kong in?

Hong Kong Time, eight hours ahead of UTC, held all year. It is the same offset as mainland China and Singapore.

What is the time difference between Hong Kong and New York?

New York is normally thirteen hours behind Hong Kong, or twelve when New York is on summer time. The gap shifts because New York uses daylight saving and Hong Kong does not.

What is the IANA name for Hong Kong time?

It is Asia/Hong_Kong in the IANA time zone database, the time data your phone and your computer use. It holds a steady UTC plus 8, and it is what drives the live clock on this page.

References

1. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Time Zone Database (the tz database), home of the Asia/Hong_Kong identifier. https://www.iana.org/time-zones
2. Hong Kong Observatory (HKO), which keeps and disseminates the standard time of Hong Kong. https://www.hko.gov.hk
3. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), Time Department, which maintains Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the reference Hong Kong Time is measured from. https://www.bipm.org/en/work-programme/time