While looking at some of the pictures taken in Turpan, my friend asked, “What time of day were the pictures taken?” I replied, “Around mid-day.” I should have added, Beijing time. The next response was, “That’s odd. I wouldn’t have guessed that time because the shadows are long.”
So what’s up? Well in all of China there is only one official time zone, Beijing time, and there is no daylight savings time. In the Xinjiang Province the locals observe an “official” a two hour time shift to avoid getting up in the dark to go to work. But Urumqi and Kashgar are located so far west of Beijing that from a practical matter they are essentially three hours behind Beijing. And, that is why the shadows are long. Noon Beijing time is nine a.m. based on sunrise in western Xinjiang.
