(File photo)

    XI'AN, Jan. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- One extra second was added to Chinese clocks on the first day of 2006.

    The time adjustment was officially made just before 8 o'clock Beijing time at the national time authorization center located in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

    Globally, a leap second was added on Dec. 31, 2005, at 23:59:60, Greenwich Mean Time, according to the International Earth Rotation Service.

    It is the first extra second in seven years and the 23rd leap second that has been inserted since 1972 when an international timekeeping agreement was signed.

    Leap seconds are inserted since atomic clocks tend to go slightly ahead of the earth's rotation, largely because the rotation of the earth has been slowing down. Enditem