When Standard Time Came to Beijing

Until January 1937 Peking (Beijing, if you prefer) had no standard time. Of course there was a set time but very few clocks agreed and some people relied on gongs during the night, a cannon shot at noon and other forms of timekeeping. However, with the treaty ports having introduced standard time through electric clocks (and also Nanking, the capital) Beijing decided to get modern too. Additionally standard time would be a great help to train, bus, trolleybus and, just starting for Peking, flight timetables. And so seven electric clocks were installed in the city to allow people to set their own watches and clocks by these.

Nanjing had bought a KS Clock from Germany (I have seen this written but can find no trace of K.S. clocks) in 1929 which sent out a time signal at noon and 6pm each day for people to synchronize with. The National Astronomical Observatory had been opened in 1912 in Beijing and did answer telephone queries about the time – a sort of personalised Speaking Clock.

Maybe someone knows the following – what clocks did Peking use and where were the seven timepieces located?