Distance from Shanghai to Soweto
Shanghai (China) and Soweto (South Africa) are 11,799 km apart — that's 7,332 miles or 6,371 nautical miles, measured along the great circle (the shortest path over the Earth's surface).
The numbers
- Great-circle distance
- 11,799 km · 7,332 mi · 6,371 nmi
- Initial bearing Shanghai → Soweto
- 249° (WSW)
- Initial bearing Soweto → Shanghai
- 63° (ENE)
- Nonstop flight (rough estimate)
- ≈ 14 h 32 min
- Time zones
- Shanghai UTC+08:00 · Soweto UTC+02:00 (-6 h)
- Sunrise gap today
- 448 min — the sun rises earlier in Shanghai
Flight time is a cruise-speed approximation (no routing/wind); driving distance depends on roads and is typically 20–40% longer than great-circle.
The two cities
- Shanghai
- 31.2222, 121.4581
- Sunrise / sunset today
- 21:16 UTC / 10:46 UTC
- Soweto
- -26.2678, 27.8585
- Sunrise / sunset today
- 04:44 UTC / 15:46 UTC
Open in the distance calculator Find the halfway point
Distances here are straight-line (great-circle). Road routes typically run 1.2–1.4× longer — here's why, with the visual.