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CST
12am
3am
6am
9am
12pm
3pm
6pm
9pm
CEST
12am
3am
6am
9am
12pm
3pm
6pm
9pm

Quick answers

Selected conversion

8:00 pm20:00 CST (UTC+8), Oct 12, 2026 = 2:00 pm14:00 CEST (UTC+2), Oct 12, 2026

CST is 6 hours ahead of CEST.

CST and CEST examples

These examples always use CST (UTC+8) and CEST (UTC+2). They stay the same when you change the date or time above. The selected conversion may differ when daylight saving time applies.

CST is 6 hours ahead of CEST.

How the time difference changes

For most of the year, CST Asia is 6 hours ahead of CEST. From Oct 25, 2026 to Mar 28, 2027, CST Asia is 7 hours ahead of CET.

For most of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in CST Asia correspond to 3:00 am to 11:00 am in CEST. At other times of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in CST Asia correspond to 2:00 am to 10:00 am in CET.For most of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 17:00 in CST Asia correspond to 03:00 to 11:00 in CEST. At other times of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 17:00 in CST Asia correspond to 02:00 to 10:00 in CET.

Compare CST time with CEST time, including current local time, UTC offsets, time difference, daylight saving changes, working hours, and shareable meeting times.

Time Difference

China Standard Time is 6 hours ahead of Central European Summer Time.
8:00 pm20:00 in CST is 2:00 pm14:00 in CEST

CST to CEST call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 3pm-5pm15:00-17:00 in CST which corresponds to 9am-11am09:00-11:00 in CEST

8:00 pm20:00 China Standard Time (CST). Offset UTC +8:00 hours
2:00 pm14:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST). Offset UTC +2:00 hours

8:00 pm20:00 CST / 2:00 pm14:00 CEST

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Hourly time comparison
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China Standard Time

Offset: CST is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Countries using this time zone: China, Macau, Taiwan

Principal Cities: The largest city in the CST time zone is Shanghai in China, with about 24.875 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu.

Daylight Saving: Clocks in China Standard Time (CST) do not change for daylight saving time, so CST stays the same throughout the year. Other time zones may set clocks forward in summer and back in winter; see upcoming clock changes worldwide.

CST representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • +08 - basic short
  • +0800 - basic
  • +08:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • +0800 - sign character (+) followed by a four digit time providing hours (08) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of eight hours to the east of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Hotel - Military abbreviation for CST
  • H - short form of 'Hotel'
IANA/Olson: Reflects CST time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • Asia/Chongqing
  • Asia/Chungking
  • Asia/Harbin
  • Asia/Macao
  • Asia/Macau
  • Asia/Shanghai
  • Asia/Taipei
  • PRC
  • ROC
CST Abbreviation: Several time zones share CST abbreviation and it could refer to these time zones
  • Central Standard Time - UTC -6
  • China Standard Time - UTC +8
  • Cuba Standard Time - UTC -5
Time zones with the GMT +8 offset:
  • ACT - ASEAN Common Time
  • AWST - Australian Western Standard Time
  • BNT - Brunei Darussalam Time
  • CAST - Casey Time
  • CHOT - Choibalsan Time
  • CST - China Standard Time
  • H - Hotel Time Zone
  • HKT - Hong Kong Time
  • HOVST - Hovd Summer Time
  • IRKT - Irkutsk Time
  • KRAST - Krasnoyarsk Summer Time
  • MYT - Malaysia Time
  • PHT - Philippine Time
  • SGT - Singapore Time
  • ULAT - Ulaanbaatar Time
  • WITA - Central Indonesian Time

Central European Summer Time

Offset: CEST is 2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Countries using this time zone: Andorra, Albania, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Gibraltar, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Sweden, Slovenia, Svalbard & Jan Mayen, Slovakia, San Marino, Vatican City

Principal Cities: The largest city in the CEST time zone is Berlin in Germany, with about 3.426 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Madrid, Rome, Paris, Hamburg.

German: MESZ - Mitteleuropäische Sommerzeit

Map of the areas on Central European Summer Time (CEST)
CEST part of the year

Today all shaded areas are on CEST.

Daylight Saving: Central European Summer Time (CEST) is a daylight saving/summer time zone. During winter, some places set clocks back one hour and observe Central European Time (CET).

123456789101112Start: Central European Summer Time (CEST) started on Sunday, March 29, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks were set one hour forward to Sunday, March 29, 2026, 3:00 am03:00. Daylight saving starts annually on the last Sunday of March.

123456789101112End: Central European Summer Time (CEST) ends on Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 3:00 am03:00 local time and clocks are set one hour back to Sunday, October 25, 2026, 2:00 am02:00 local standard time instead. Daylight saving ends annually on the last Sunday of October.

See upcoming clock changes worldwide.

CEST representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • +02 - basic short
  • +0200 - basic
  • +02:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • +0200 - sign character (+) followed by a four digit time providing hours (02) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of two hours to the east of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Bravo - Military abbreviation for CEST
  • B - short form of 'Bravo'
IANA/Olson: Reflects CEST time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • Africa/Ceuta
  • Arctic/Longyearbyen
  • Atlantic/Jan_Mayen
  • CET
  • Europe/Amsterdam
  • Europe/Andorra
  • Europe/Belgrade
  • Europe/Berlin
  • Europe/Bratislava
  • Europe/Brussels
  • Europe/Budapest
  • Europe/Busingen
  • Europe/Copenhagen
  • Europe/Gibraltar
  • Europe/Ljubljana
  • Europe/Luxembourg
  • Europe/Madrid
  • Europe/Malta
  • Europe/Monaco
  • Europe/Oslo
  • Europe/Paris
  • Europe/Podgorica
  • Europe/Prague
  • Europe/Rome
  • Europe/San_Marino
  • Europe/Sarajevo
  • Europe/Skopje
  • Europe/Stockholm
  • Europe/Tirane
  • Europe/Vaduz
  • Europe/Vatican
  • Europe/Vienna
  • Europe/Warsaw
  • Europe/Zagreb
  • Europe/Zurich
  • MET
  • Poland
Time zones with the GMT +2 offset:
  • CEST - Central European Summer Time
  • EET - Eastern European Time
  • MESZ - Mitteleuropäische Sommerzeit
  • B - Bravo Time Zone
  • CAT - Central Africa Time
  • IST - Israel Standard Time
  • SAST - South Africa Standard Time
  • WAST - West Africa Summer Time