London to Shanghai: time difference and meeting times
Everything you need to schedule between London and Shanghai — the current offset, both cities' daylight saving dates, and the hour-by-hour overlap of their working days.
2 hours of full overlap. Both cities are inside normal working hours (09:00–17:59 local) at 08:00–10:00 UTC. Any hour in that range works for both sides without anyone starting early or finishing late.
Hour by hour
| UTC | London | Status | Shanghai | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 01:00 | Asleep | 08:00 | Early morning |
| 01:00 | 02:00 | Asleep | 09:00 | Working hours |
| 02:00 | 03:00 | Asleep | 10:00 | Working hours |
| 03:00 | 04:00 | Asleep | 11:00 | Working hours |
| 04:00 | 05:00 | Asleep | 12:00 | Working hours |
| 05:00 | 06:00 | Early morning | 13:00 | Working hours |
| 06:00 | 07:00 | Early morning | 14:00 | Working hours |
| 07:00 | 08:00 | Early morning | 15:00 | Working hours |
| 08:00 | 09:00 | Working hours | 16:00 | Working hours |
| 09:00 | 10:00 | Working hours | 17:00 | Working hours |
| 10:00 | 11:00 | Working hours | 18:00 | Evening |
| 11:00 | 12:00 | Working hours | 19:00 | Evening |
| 12:00 | 13:00 | Working hours | 20:00 | Evening |
| 13:00 | 14:00 | Working hours | 21:00 | Late night |
| 14:00 | 15:00 | Working hours | 22:00 | Late night |
| 15:00 | 16:00 | Working hours | 23:00 | Late night |
| 16:00 | 17:00 | Working hours | 00:00 next day | Asleep |
| 17:00 | 18:00 | Evening | 01:00 next day | Asleep |
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Evening | 02:00 next day | Asleep |
| 19:00 | 20:00 | Evening | 03:00 next day | Asleep |
| 20:00 | 21:00 | Late night | 04:00 next day | Asleep |
| 21:00 | 22:00 | Late night | 05:00 next day | Asleep |
| 22:00 | 23:00 | Late night | 06:00 next day | Early morning |
| 23:00 | 00:00 next day | Asleep | 07:00 next day | Early morning |
Green rows are hours when both cities are inside core working hours (09:00–17:59 local). Amber rows are hours when both are awake but at least one is in the early morning or evening. Times shown are for 27 August 2026; the pattern shifts when either city changes its clocks.
Quick conversions
| When it is… | …it is |
|---|---|
| 09:00 in London | 16:00 in Shanghai |
| 12:00 in London | 19:00 in Shanghai |
| 15:00 in London | 22:00 in Shanghai |
| 17:00 in London | 00:00 next day in Shanghai |
Daylight saving
London next moves its clocks back on 25 October 2026, to UTC+0. Shanghai does not observe daylight saving — this offset is fixed all year.
Only one side changes its clocks
London observes daylight saving and Shanghai does not. The difference between these two cities is therefore not constant — it changes twice a year, entirely because of the London side. A recurring meeting fixed to local time in Shanghai will appear to move by an hour in London, and vice versa.
Scheduling across this corridor
Europe and East Asia share the edges of their working days rather than the middle. The Asian evening meets the European morning, which gives a usable window of a couple of hours if the Asian side is willing to stay slightly late or the European side to start slightly early. Since China, Japan and Korea hold a fixed offset year-round while Europe shifts, the size of that window changes by an hour between summer and winter — it is at its widest during European summer time.
About London
London is the practical reference point for global scheduling, sitting at UTC in winter and an hour ahead of it in summer. That is precisely why UTC and London time are not the same thing for most of the year, and why "GMT" used loosely between April and October is usually wrong. British Summer Time runs from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October, on the EU schedule rather than the American one.
About Shanghai
Shanghai runs on China Standard Time, eight hours ahead of UTC with no daylight saving. The whole of China uses this single zone despite the country spanning roughly five geographic timezones, so the far west of the country runs several hours out of step with the sun. China last observed daylight saving in 1991.
Add more cities
This page covers two cities. If your team spans three or more, open the interactive grid — it shows every city's working hours side by side and highlights the columns where everyone overlaps.
◎ Open London and Shanghai in the grid
Related time differences
Intl API and were last generated on 27 August 2026. See how we calculate these figures.