What time is it, Mr Hu Jin Tao?

Let me try to explain a little bit about how things function here in communist China. One perfect example at how the government is trying to exert power across the country can be illustrated by this thing called “modified time”. Here in Xinjiang/Urumqi we run at the same timezone as Beijing Time, but it really is ridiculous because when the sun rises in the east of China at say 5am, it is still dark here. We are technically two time zones back from Beijing time. And so 5am there means it is theoretically 3am here. The Uyghurs use Uyghur time, which is more practical and realistic. But because our teaching hours go by Beijing time, my watch is always set according to that hour, even though it makes no sense at all. And so I go to bed on average at about 3am and get up at around 10am everyday. It took me a while to come to grips with the whole thing but I still think it is completely ridiculous to be going by a time that just doesn’t make sense to the position of the sun. It amazes me sometimes how much power and influence a certain group of men in dark suits have over a billion + people.