diff --git a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLEnv.scala b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLEnv.scala
index 8944b93d9b69..233e6224a10d 100644
--- a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLEnv.scala
+++ b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLEnv.scala
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.{SparkConf, SparkContext}
 import org.apache.spark.internal.Logging
 import org.apache.spark.sql.{SparkSession, SQLContext}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.hive.{HiveExternalCatalog, HiveUtils}
+import org.apache.spark.sql.internal.SQLConf
 import org.apache.spark.util.Utils
 
 /** A singleton object for the master program. The slaves should not access this. */
@@ -45,6 +46,8 @@ private[hive] object SparkSQLEnv extends Logging {
 
       sparkConf
         .setAppName(maybeAppName.getOrElse(s"SparkSQL::${Utils.localHostName()}"))
+        .set(SQLConf.DATETIME_JAVA8API_ENABLED, true)
+
 
       val sparkSession = SparkSession.builder.config(sparkConf).enableHiveSupport().getOrCreate()
       sparkContext = sparkSession.sparkContext
diff --git a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLSessionManager.scala b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLSessionManager.scala
index e10e7ed1a276..806b6146b2db 100644
--- a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLSessionManager.scala
+++ b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLSessionManager.scala
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.SQLContext
 import org.apache.spark.sql.hive.HiveUtils
 import org.apache.spark.sql.hive.thriftserver.ReflectionUtils._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.hive.thriftserver.server.SparkSQLOperationManager
+import org.apache.spark.sql.internal.SQLConf
 
 
 private[hive] class SparkSQLSessionManager(hiveServer: HiveServer2, sqlContext: SQLContext)
@@ -63,6 +64,7 @@ private[hive] class SparkSQLSessionManager(hiveServer: HiveServer2, sqlContext:
       sqlContext.newSession()
     }
     ctx.setConf(HiveUtils.FAKE_HIVE_VERSION.key, HiveUtils.builtinHiveVersion)
+    ctx.setConf(SQLConf.DATETIME_JAVA8API_ENABLED, true)
     val hiveSessionState = session.getSessionState
     setConfMap(ctx, hiveSessionState.getOverriddenConfigurations)
     setConfMap(ctx, hiveSessionState.getHiveVariables)
diff --git a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/CliSuite.scala b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/CliSuite.scala
index ea1a371151c3..8546421a8692 100644
--- a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/CliSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/CliSuite.scala
@@ -551,4 +551,10 @@ class CliSuite extends SparkFunSuite with BeforeAndAfterAll with Logging {
       errorResponses = Seq("AnalysisException"))(
       ("", "Error in query: The second argument of 'date_sub' function needs to be an integer."))
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-30808: use Java 8 time API in Thrift SQL CLI by default") {
+    // If Java 8 time API is enabled via the SQL config `spark.sql.datetime.java8API.enabled`,
+    // the date formatter for `java.sql.LocalDate` must output negative years with sign.
+    runCliWithin(1.minute)("SELECT MAKE_DATE(-44, 3, 15);" -> "-0044-03-15")
+  }
 }
diff --git a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/HiveThriftServer2Suites.scala b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/HiveThriftServer2Suites.scala
index 21256ad02c13..835aee0a598b 100644
--- a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/HiveThriftServer2Suites.scala
+++ b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/HiveThriftServer2Suites.scala
@@ -866,6 +866,18 @@ class HiveThriftBinaryServerSuite extends HiveThriftJdbcTest {
       }
     }
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-30808: use Java 8 time API and Proleptic Gregorian calendar by default") {
+    withJdbcStatement() { st =>
+      // Proleptic Gregorian calendar has no gap in the range 1582-10-04..1582-10-15
+      val date = "1582-10-10"
+      val rs = st.executeQuery(s"select date '$date'")
+      rs.next()
+      val expected = java.sql.Date.valueOf(date)
+      assert(rs.getDate(1) === expected)
+      assert(rs.getString(1) === expected.toString)
+    }
+  }
 }
 
 class SingleSessionSuite extends HiveThriftJdbcTest {