Once a friend in China asked me about the time difference. She was highly amused when I followed up the response (15-16 hours) with the comment 中国就是美国的未来 ["China is the future of America"].
China, which spans 5 hours of "natural time" all operates on Beijing time. In Xinjiang it is dark very late into the morning, and light often well into the wee hours. That is the least of their problems just now.
Well, no, the morning begins around sunrise just like everywhere else. For example, today morning in Ürümqi began around 8 am. In contrast, morning in Beijing began around 6 am.
But this is a joke about the international date line, not a comment on whether you can redefine the difference between night and day by adjusting what your clock says.
Once a friend in China asked me about the time difference. She was highly amused when I followed up the response (15-16 hours) with the comment 中国就是美国的未来 ["China is the future of America"].