Sun Up and Sun Down

With daylight savings coming to an end next weekend in the U.S. we thought it was a good time to touch on one of the biggest adjustments we’ve had to make moving here to China - sunrise and sunset times. The sun comes up before 5am and sets before 5pm right now. In the dead of summer, it was light until about 5:30pm at the latest point.

There are really two reasons for the early rise and early set of the sun. One, China doesn’t practice daylight savings. Two, China is roughly the same size as the U.S., but the entire country is in the SAME time-zone. Just imagine if New York and Los Angeles had the same exact time – it would be great on New Year’s because everyone would get to celebrate live with Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest, but not-so-great the rest of year.

If we had migrated here from Alaska or had a paper route then it might not be such a downer, but when we’re used to our summers having sunshine until 9pm, it’s a bit of a beat-down.