Date and time notation in Asia
Philippines
Post-Soviet states
Date
In the Post-Soviet states DD.MM.YYYY format is used with dot as a separator.
Time
24-hour time notation is used officially and for purposes that require precision like announcements in the media. In colloquial speech 12-hour clock is used.
Greater China
Date
The date format follows the Chinese hierarchical system, which has traditionally been big-endian. Consequently, it agrees with ISO 8601 — year first, month next, and day last. Example: 2006-01-29. A leading zero is optional in practice (mostly not added). Chinese characters that mean year, month, and day are often used as separators too. Example: 2006年1月29日.
Since the characters clearly label the date, the year may be abbreviated to two digits when this format is used. The exception to this guideline is in Taiwan, where a separate calendar system is used, with years numbered to the founding of the Republic of China in 1912. Thus, the year 2006 corresponds to the "95th year of the Republic" or in Chinese Minguo 95 (民國95年). In official contexts, this system is always used, while in informal contexts, the Gregorian calendar is sometimes used. To avoid confusion, the Gregorian year is always written out in full in Taiwan. Example: 95.01.29 refers to 2006-01-29, not 1995-01-29 (which would be rendered as 84.01.29). Another means to distinguish between the two systems is to place the terms Gongyuan (公元, common era) and Minguo (民國, Republic) before the year. Example: 2006 is rendered as either 公元2006年 or 民國95年.
The day of the week is often appended to the date and commonly enclosed in parentheses. Example: 2006年1月29日 (星期天).
In speech, the date is spoken in the same format as it is written. Using the previous example: 2006 (èrlínglíngliù) 年 (nián) 1 (yī) 月 (yuè) 29 (èrshíjiǔ) 日 (rì) 星期天 (xīngqītiān).
Hào (simplified Chinese: 号; traditional Chinese: 號) is a colloquial term used to express the day of the month instead of rì (Chinese: 日). It is rarely used in formal writing. Using the previous example: 2006 (èrlínglíngliù) 年 (nián) 1 (yī) 月 (yuè) 29 (èrshíjiǔ) 號 (hào) 星期天 (xīngqītiān). Hào is more often used when the month is understood from the context, i.e.: 29號 for the 29th.
Dates written in Hong Kong and Macau are often formatted in the DD.MM.YYYY style due to European influences. Nonetheless, the Chinese form of the dates is still read in the same way as described above. Visas for the People's Republic of China also conform to this format.
Time
Both the 12-hour and 24-hour notations are used in spoken and written Chinese. However, to avoid confusion, time on schedules and public notices are typically formatted in the 24-hour system. Example: 19:45. Chinese characters that mean hour (simplified Chinese: 时; traditional Chinese: 時; pinyin: shí) and minute (Chinese: 分; pinyin: fēn) are sometimes used instead of the standard colon. Example: 19時45分. 正 (zhèng) is used to mean exactly on the hour. Example: 19時正.
It is not uncommon to see Chinese numerals instead of Arabic numbers, but tourist attractions will usually use Arabic numerals for the convenience of foreigners.
Spoken Chinese predominantly uses the 12-hour system and follows the same concept as A.M. (上午 shàngwŭ) and P.M. (下午 xiàwŭ). However, shàngwŭ and xiàwŭ precede the time. Example: 下午7:45 or 下午7點45分 (xiàwǔ qī diǎn sìshíwǔ fēn). Diǎn (simplified Chinese: 点; traditional Chinese: 點) is a variation of shí and typically used in speech and often in writing. Zhōng (simplified Chinese: 钟; traditional Chinese: 鐘), which literally means clock, can be added to a time phrase, usually when it contains either only hours or only minutes. Example: 7點鐘 or 12分鐘. If the number of minutes is less than ten, the preceding zero is included in speech. Example: 上午8:05 (shàngwŭ bādiǎn língwǔfēn). Time written in the 24-hour system can be read as is. Example: 19:45 (shíjiǔdiǎn sìshíwǔfēn).
A sample of other phrases that are often used to better describe the time-frame of day are listed below:
| Traditional | Simplified | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 凌晨 | língchén | approaching morning/dawn (from midnight to before dawn) | |
| 早上 | zǎoshàng | morning (from dawn to about 9:00 or 10:00) | |
| 上午 | shàngwŭ | day before noon (from 9:00 or 10:00 to noon); also used in computer systems (e.g., Windows) to denote "a.m." | |
| 中午 or 正午 | zhōngwŭ or zhèngwŭ | midday/noon (from 12:00 to 12:59) | |
| 下午 | xiàwŭ | day after noon (from 13:00 to before dusk); also used in computer systems (e.g., Windows) to denote "p.m." | |
| 傍晚 | bàngwǎn | approaching evening/night (from dusk to about 20:00 or 21:00) | |
| 晚上 | wǎnshàng | evening/night (from 20:00 or 21:00 to midnight) | |
Examples:
- 03:00 = 淩晨3點 (língchén sān diǎn) or 淩晨3點鐘 (língchén sān diǎnzhōng)
- 19:00 = 傍晚7點 (bàngwǎn qī diǎn) or 傍晚7點鐘 (bàngwǎn qī diǎnzhōng)
- Note: These phrases that describe the time-frame of day are used only with the 12-hour system.
Time can alternatively be expressed as a fraction of the hour in speech. A traditional Chinese unit of time, the 刻 (kè), was 1/96 of the 24-hour day cycle or 15 minutes, equivalent to "quarter of an hour" in English. A quarter-after is 一刻 (yī kè) or 過一刻 (guò yī kè), which literally mean "one kè" or "one kè past", respectively. A quarter-to is 差一刻 (chà yī kè), which literally means "one kè less". 半 (bàn), which means half, is used in conjunction with the relative hour to mean "at the half-hour". Examples:
- 6:45 = 7點差一刻 (qī diǎn chà yī kè) or 差一刻7點 (chà yī kè qī diǎn)
- 8:15 = 8點一刻 (bādiǎn duō yīkè)
- 9:30 = 9點半 (jiǔdiǎn bàn)
Attention must be drawn to the time 02:00. It is written as 2時 (èr shí) but almost always read as 兩點 (liǎng diǎn). The number two, 二 (èr), takes the form of 兩 (liǎng) when followed by a measure word, in this case, 點 (diǎn). Note that this does not apply to 12:00. Noon is 12點鐘 (shí èr diǎnzhōng) or 正午 (zhèngwǔ) or 午時 (wǔshí). Midnight, on the other hand, is 淩晨12點鐘 (língchén shí èr diǎnzhōng) or 零時 (língshí), which literally means zero hour.
Cantonese has an additional method of expressing time as a fraction of the hour. This system divides the hour into 12 units, each five minutes long. Each unit, therefore, corresponds to one of the numbers written on an analogue clock. The character for this unit is uncertain since it is only used in speech, however the Cantonese pronunciation is ji6 and homonymous to the character 字 (zì, Cantonese: ji6). This method can be used in two ways - with the relative hour and without. When the relative hour is included, the unit must be preceded with the measure word 個 (ge, Cantonese: go3). Example: 3:05 is 3點1個字 (sāndiǎn yīgezì, Cantonese: saam1 dim2 yat1 go3 ji6), usually simply 3點1. When the relative hour is not included, the unit is omitted as well; the position of the minute hand is described instead, using the verb 踏 (tà, Cantonese: daap6), which literally means "step on", meaning "resting on top of" in this context. Examples:
- five-after = 踏1 (tà yī, Cantonese: daap6 yat1)
- ten-after = 踏2 (tà èr, Cantonese: daap6 yi6)
- fifteen-to = 踏9 (tà jiǔ, Cantonese: daap6 gau2)
- ten-to = 踏10 (tà shí, Cantonese: daap6 sap6)
The half-hour mark is never described using this unit of five minutes, however. 3:30 is still 3點半 (sāndiǎn bàn, Cantonese: saam1 dim2 bun3), as previously described. Half-past the hour is 踏半 (tàbàn, Cantonese: daap6 bun3).
