China spans 5 geographic time zones but observes only 1.

Among other things, China will forever be known for its unique interpretation of time. The country goes by the rare lunisolar calendar, assigns an animal to each year, and follows a single standard time; UTC-08:00. 

This nation-wide time zone is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and was first introduced in 1949. Before this, since 1912, the Central Observatory of the Republic of China in Peking actual had the country divided into 5 time zones. 

After the Chinese Civil War, the unified time zone was adopted by the Communist Party of China (now the country’s official government) . This was done so that there would be no time-related confusion or complications in the nation; the general public and government officials can communicate with any part of the country without considering time zones.

Now, there are some concerns about this policy. Time zones were created for the sake of efficiency; they allow each geographic region to make the most out of daylight. A country as big as China using a single time zone would be like the United States having Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, and New York under one time zone. 

In Western China, the sun often doesn’t rise until 10:00 AM, making winters even more prominent. But hey, if you’re travelling around the country, at least there’s no jetlag. 

(Source)