Getting used to the dark

All of China is on the same time zone. That might not seem like a big deal. But China is as big as the United States (including Alaska), which has four times zones in the continental part.

So at 9 a.m. today it was still completely dark in Urumqi, a city in far west China. A light snow was falling around the airport. Temperature was in the teens in Fahrenheit (9 degrees below zero in Centigrade).

It got light at 9:20 a.m.

Beijing insists on a single time zone, I’m told, as a unifying factor for the nation. But in reality in China’s far western Xinjiang province, everything seems to start later in the day to accommodate when there is daylight.

Policies are one thing. But sometimes the facts on the ground are another.

I’m on my way to Pakistan for a several week journalistic stint. So perhaps this blog should take on the name Pakistan at a Crossroads, or some such. Anyway, I hope you’ll humor me for a few days as I write about Pakistan.

Interestingly, the Urumqi airport is turning into a bigger crossroads for Central Asia than I remember from my last visit here in the fall of 2004. The airport is full of Russians and traders from the ‘stans. Another flight is headed to Tashkent. It appears China Southern, one of the Big Three Chinese airlines, is doing decent business ferrying people around Central Asia.

For those interested in an interesting blog from Xinjiang, check out The Opposite End of China here. The blogger, an English teacher, appears to live in Korla, which might accurately be described as remote. It's got great photos of Tibet. And one recent posting talks about how the blogger took China Air Force Airlines from Beijing directly to Korla. I'd never heard of that airline.

Comments

[SmallWorld]

I told you the true reason of not having multi-time-zone in China. In 1980s, China has tried to introduce the daylight-saving-time, and this caused a lot of chaos every year -- many travellers (especially for the uneducated or under-educated) just got confused. If twice a year time change is unapplicable in China, it's just impossible for the multi-time-zone idea. And another reason is that more than 95% population of China lived within time zones +1/-1 of Beijing's time zone. The vast western China is much much less populated.

[Johnny]

I was in Tibet last month and found it quite odd to be waking up at 9am and it still being dark outside! But I think everyone just adjust to that by starting their day late.

[Olivier Wagner]

Well, Beijing is concerned with the developped/rich China (i.e. the east coast).

The vast western China is much much less populated and the populations there are poor, not to mention that they are not ethnic hans, so Beijing could not care less.