China = 1 time Zone!

I heard this during the Olympic stuff during the 5 mins i watched it...

How the? How can a country the size of the US, have only 1 time zone?

What the (blank)?

Does anyone have an answer here or should i assume the worst...

Link to TimeZone map

[edit on 8/9/2008 by TKainZero]

Here's a wiki article on the issue:

Time in China

Thank you

After the Chinese Civil War with the then ruling Kuomintang, the Communist Party gained control of the Chinese mainland and established the People's Republic of China in 1949. A unified time zone - GMT+8 - was established for all its claimed territories, called Beijing Time (sometimes known as Chinese Standard Time). It is not known exactly when the one time zone policy was established.

Its what i though...

Communists deciding what is best for the people...