Look up AFP in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

AFP may refer to:

Media[link]

• Agence France-Presse, a news agency
• American Family Publishers, a magazine subscription company
• Advertiser funded programming, a television funding model
• American Family Physician, a semimonthly, peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Family Physicians
• Australian Family Physician, a peer-reviewed journal of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
• American Free Press, a weekly newspaper
• America's Funniest People, an American television reality show from the 1990s
• AFP: American Fighter Pilot, a 2002 American television reality show
• AFP (TV series), a 2011 Australian factual television series

Medicine[link]

• Alpha-fetoprotein, a molecule produced in the developing embryo and fetus
• Acute flaccid paralysis, a clinical manifestation characterized by paralysis and reduced muscle tone
• Antifreeze protein, a class of polypeptides produced by certain vertebrates, plants, fungi, and bacteria

Military forces[link]

• Armed Forces of the Philippines

Police organizations[link]

• Australian Federal Police
• Argentine Federal Police

Music[link]

• Amanda Palmer (sometimes known as Amanda Fucking Palmer, born 1976), a punk cabaret artist formerly in the duo The Dresden Dolls
• Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa, an organization that tracks music sales in Portugal
• Automatic for the People

Political organizations[link]

• America First Party (disambiguation), multiple United States political parties
• Australia First Party, a political party in Australia
• Americans for Prosperity, a Washington D.C.-based political advocacy group

Technology[link]

• Advanced Function Presentation
• IBM Advanced Function Printing (AFP) an IBM architecture for information presentation control
• Apple Filing Protocol, a network protocol for file services
• AFP-675, a Space Shuttle experiment package
• Advanced Flexible Processor or CYBERPLUS processor, Parallel Processing Systems
• Adobe Flash Player, software for viewing video and animations

See also[link]

• APF (disambiguation)

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Time in China follows a single standard time of UTC+08:00, which is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. China spans five different geographic time zones, from UTC+05:00 in the west to UTC+09:00 in the east, yet since 1949 China has only had a single standard time. The time UTC+06:00 is also used unofficially in Xinjiang and Tibet. Historically under the Republic of China it was divided into five time zones.

In mainland China this standard time is called Beijing Time (北京时间) domestically but it is commonly referred to as China Standard Time (CST) internationally. In Hong Kong it is called Hong Kong Time; in Macau it is called Macau Standard Time; and in Taiwan it is officially called National Standard Time (國家標準時間) and also Chungyuan Standard Time (中原標準時間, Central Standard Time) or Taiwan Standard Time (台灣標準時間).

History[link]

The time zones of the Republic of China, used on the mainland from 1912 to 1949.

Time zones were first set up and made official in China in 1912 under the Republic of China. The country was divided into five time zones, namely GMT+5.5, GMT+6, GMT+7, GMT+8 and GMT+8.5. Before that, time varied, while astrological predictions were conducted according to the time standard based on the locations of then capitals of the imperial dynasties.^{[citation needed]} A summer time was observed in 1919 in Tianjin and Shanghai, and parts of China from 1935 to 1962.^{[citation needed]}

After the Chinese Civil War in 1949. the People's Republic of China established one single time zone (UTC+8) for the entirety of its claimed territories, while the Republic of China continued to place the remaining territories of Taiwan under the UTC+8 time zone. Although the two had different policies, they were all placed under the same time zone.

Until 1997, Hong Kong and 1999, Macau had, respectively, been colonies of the United Kingdom and Portugal. Despite being part of the People's Republic of China today, as special administrative regions they have retained their own policies regarding time zones over the respective regions. Due to their geographical locations, both are within the GMT/UTC+8 time zone.

1912 to 1949[link]

In 1912, the Central Observatory of the Republic of China in Peking (now romanised as Beijing) divided the country into five time zones, namely Kunlun Time Zone (GMT+5.5), Sinkiang-Tibet Time Zone (GMT+6), Kansu-Szechuan Time Zone (GMT+7). Chungyuan Standard Time Zone (GMT+8), and Changpai Time Zone (GMT+8.5). These time zones were ratified in 1939 in the standard time conference of the Ministry of Interior of the Executive Yuan.

These time zones were no longer in effective use after 1949 when the PRC was established on mainland China, as the new government had its own policies regarding the time zones on mainland China. However, as the ROC still claimed that it had sovereignty over mainland China, the time zones that were assigned in 1912 are still in use in the view of the Government of the ROC, which had retreated to Taiwan. Some government departments on Taiwan still refer to the time on Taiwan as "Central Standard Time".

People's Republic of China[link]

After the Chinese Civil War, in 1949, a unified time zone — GMT+8 — was established by the People's Republic of China for all its territories, called Beijing Time (sometimes known as Chinese Standard Time). Daylight saving time was observed from 1986 to 1991.^[1]

The unified time zone policy was adopted by the Communist Party of China or the People's Republic government some time between 27 September 1949, and 6 October 1949; the exact date is unknown. However, recent research suggests that the policy was most likely adopted on 27 September 1949.^[2]

Although the only official time zone in the PRC is Beijing Time, the People's Congress of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, due to its geographical location in the westernmost part of the country, proclaimed Ürümqi Time (UTC+6), two hours behind Beijing. Although this is not officially recognized, it is the time observed locally by most residents. Most stores and government offices in Xinjiang have modified opening hours, commonly running from 10am to 7pm Beijing Time. Times for buses, trains, and other public transportation are often given in Xinjiang time, regardless of the ethnicity of the speaker.^[3]

Hong Kong[link]

As a Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong maintains its own time. The Hong Kong Time is UTC+08:00 year round, without daylight saving observation. Greenwich Mean Time was adopted as the basis in 1904, and UTC was adopted as a standard in 1972. Before that, local time was determined by astronomical observations at the Hong Kong Observatory using a 6-inch Lee Equatorial and a 3-inch Transit Circle.

Macau[link]

As a Special Administrative Region Macau maintains its own time. Macao Standard Time^[4] (Chinese: 澳門標準時間; pinyin: Àomén Biāozhǔn Shíjiān; Portuguese: Hora Oficial de Macau^[5] ) is the time in Macau. The time is UTC+08:00 all year round, and daylight saving time is not applied. There was daylight saving time in the past.^{[citation needed]}

IANA time zone database[link]

Current and former Chinese territory is covered in the IANA time zone database by the following zones.

Map showing the IANA time zone database zones in the PRC.

Columns marked with * are from the file zone.tab of the database.

References[link]

External links[link]

Government departments responsible for time services:

• National Time Service Center, the Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Hong Kong Observatory (Hong Kong)
• Direccão dos Servicos Meterológicos e Geofisicos (Macau)

Articles:

• Nassau Weekly article on time zone policy in Western China

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