diff --git a/.github/workflows/posix.yml b/.github/workflows/posix.yml
index 3fa9341bd0fef..807e8a4c1d3bd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/posix.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/posix.yml
@@ -25,23 +25,20 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       matrix:
         settings: [
-          [actions-38-minimum_versions.yaml, "not slow and not network and not clipboard", "", "", "", "", ""],
-          [actions-38-locale_slow.yaml, "slow", "language-pack-it xsel", "it_IT.utf8", "it_IT.utf8", "", ""],
-          [actions-38.yaml, "not slow and not clipboard", "", "", "", "", ""],
-          [actions-38-slow.yaml, "slow", "", "", "", "", ""],
-          [actions-38-locale.yaml, "not slow and not network", "language-pack-zh-hans xsel", "zh_CN.utf8", "zh_CN.utf8", "", ""],
-          [actions-39-slow.yaml, "slow", "", "", "", "", ""],
-          [actions-pypy-38.yaml, "not slow and not clipboard", "", "", "", "", "--max-worker-restart 0"],
-          [actions-39-numpydev.yaml, "not slow and not network", "xsel", "", "", "deprecate", "-W error"],
-          [actions-39.yaml, "not slow and not clipboard", "", "", "", "", ""]
+          [actions-38-minimum_versions.yaml, "not slow and not network and not clipboard", "", "", ""],
+          [actions-38-locale_clipboard.yaml, "not slow and not network", "language-pack-zh-hans language-pack-it xsel", "", ""],
+          [actions-38-slow.yaml, "slow", "", "", ""],
+          [actions-39-slow.yaml, "slow", "", "", ""],
+          [actions-38.yaml, "not slow and not clipboard", "", "", ""],
+          [actions-39.yaml, "not slow and not clipboard", "", "", ""],
+          [actions-pypy-38.yaml, "not slow and not clipboard", "", "", "--max-worker-restart 0"],
+          [actions-39-numpydev.yaml, "not slow and not network", "xsel", "deprecate", "-W error"],
         ]
       fail-fast: false
     env:
       ENV_FILE: ci/deps/${{ matrix.settings[0] }}
       PATTERN: ${{ matrix.settings[1] }}
       EXTRA_APT: ${{ matrix.settings[2] }}
-      LANG: ${{ matrix.settings[3] }}
-      LC_ALL: ${{ matrix.settings[4] }}
       PANDAS_TESTING_MODE: ${{ matrix.settings[5] }}
       TEST_ARGS: ${{ matrix.settings[6] }}
       PYTEST_TARGET:  pandas
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-38-locale.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-38-locale_clipboard.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from ci/deps/actions-38-locale.yaml
rename to ci/deps/actions-38-locale_clipboard.yaml
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-38-locale_slow.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-38-locale_slow.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index e90acafa8bb2b..0000000000000
--- a/ci/deps/actions-38-locale_slow.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-name: pandas-dev
-channels:
-  - defaults
-  - conda-forge
-dependencies:
-  - python=3.8
-
-  # tools
-  - cython>=0.29.24
-  - pytest>=6.0
-  - pytest-cov
-  - pytest-xdist>=1.31
-  - hypothesis>=5.5.3
-
-  # pandas dependencies
-  - beautifulsoup4=4.8.2
-  - bottleneck=1.3.1
-  - lxml
-  - matplotlib=3.3.2
-  - numpy=1.18
-  - openpyxl=3.0.2
-  - python-dateutil
-  - python-blosc
-  - pytz=2020.1
-  - scipy
-  - sqlalchemy=1.4.0
-  - xlrd=2.0.1
-  - xlsxwriter=1.2.2
-  - xlwt=1.3.0
-  - html5lib=1.1
diff --git a/ci/setup_env.sh b/ci/setup_env.sh
index d51ff98b241a6..88425f900f38c 100755
--- a/ci/setup_env.sh
+++ b/ci/setup_env.sh
@@ -1,18 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash -e
 
-# edit the locale file if needed
-if [[ "$(uname)" == "Linux" && -n "$LC_ALL" ]]; then
-    echo "Adding locale to the first line of pandas/__init__.py"
-    rm -f pandas/__init__.pyc
-    SEDC="3iimport locale\nlocale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '$LC_ALL')\n"
-    sed -i "$SEDC" pandas/__init__.py
-
-    echo "[head -4 pandas/__init__.py]"
-    head -4 pandas/__init__.py
-    echo
-fi
-
-
 echo "Install Miniconda"
 DEFAULT_CONDA_URL="https://repo.continuum.io/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest"
 if [[ "$(uname -m)" == 'aarch64' ]]; then
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/tslibs/nattype.pyx b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/nattype.pyx
index 141bc01716c4d..abb11907b270e 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/tslibs/nattype.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/nattype.pyx
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ class NaTType(_NaT):
         Examples
         --------
         >>> ts = pd.Timestamp('2020-03-14T15:32:52.192548651')
-        >>> ts.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %X')
+        >>> ts.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
         '2020-03-14 15:32:52'
         """,
     )
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/tslibs/timestamps.pyx b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/timestamps.pyx
index 1c26793876e5a..7819ae0da4da5 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/tslibs/timestamps.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/timestamps.pyx
@@ -1199,7 +1199,7 @@ class Timestamp(_Timestamp):
         Examples
         --------
         >>> ts = pd.Timestamp('2020-03-14T15:32:52.192548651')
-        >>> ts.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %X')
+        >>> ts.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
         '2020-03-14 15:32:52'
         """
         return datetime.strftime(self, format)
diff --git a/pandas/_testing/__init__.py b/pandas/_testing/__init__.py
index 5154626dc3c7c..f182929692eb8 100644
--- a/pandas/_testing/__init__.py
+++ b/pandas/_testing/__init__.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 )
 
 from pandas._typing import Dtype
+from pandas.compat import is_platform_linux
 
 from pandas.core.dtypes.common import (
     is_float_dtype,
@@ -190,6 +191,13 @@
 
 EMPTY_STRING_PATTERN = re.compile("^$")
 
+# Our Linux CI environments install the associated language packs
+if os.environ.get("PANDAS_CI", "0") == "1" and is_platform_linux():
+    ci_locales = get_locales() or []
+else:
+    ci_locales = []
+TESTING_LOCALES = [loc for loc in ci_locales if loc in {"it_IT.UTF-8", "zh_CN.UTF-8"}]
+
 # set testing_mode
 _testing_mode_warnings = (DeprecationWarning, ResourceWarning)
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/config/test_localization.py b/pandas/tests/config/test_localization.py
index 21b1b7ed6ee65..e4d75f0ca455a 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/config/test_localization.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/config/test_localization.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 from pandas.compat import is_platform_windows
 
 import pandas as pd
+import pandas._testing as tm
 
 _all_locales = get_locales() or []
 _current_locale = locale.getlocale()
@@ -62,21 +63,9 @@ def test_get_locales_prefix():
 
 
 @_skip_if_only_one_locale
-@pytest.mark.parametrize(
-    "lang,enc",
-    [
-        ("it_CH", "UTF-8"),
-        ("en_US", "ascii"),
-        ("zh_CN", "GB2312"),
-        ("it_IT", "ISO-8859-1"),
-    ],
-)
-def test_set_locale(lang, enc):
-    if all(x is None for x in _current_locale):
-        # Not sure why, but on some Travis runs with pytest,
-        #  getlocale() returned (None, None).
-        pytest.skip("Current locale is not set.")
-
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("test_local", tm.TESTING_LOCALES)
+def test_set_locale(test_local):
+    lang, enc = test_local.split(".")
     enc = codecs.lookup(enc).name
     new_locale = lang, enc
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/frame/conftest.py b/pandas/tests/frame/conftest.py
index b512664b57ade..1f14ba49a6f8c 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/frame/conftest.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/frame/conftest.py
@@ -9,6 +9,12 @@
 import pandas._testing as tm
 
 
+@pytest.fixture(params=tm.TESTING_LOCALES, autouse=True)
+def with_locale(request):
+    with tm.set_locale(request.param):
+        yield
+
+
 @pytest.fixture
 def float_frame_with_na():
     """
diff --git a/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_between_time.py b/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_between_time.py
index d8a742c644e9e..3122181cf6a1f 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_between_time.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_between_time.py
@@ -2,12 +2,12 @@
     datetime,
     time,
 )
+import locale
 
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
 
 from pandas._libs.tslibs import timezones
-import pandas.util._test_decorators as td
 
 from pandas import (
     DataFrame,
@@ -18,14 +18,9 @@
 
 
 class TestBetweenTime:
-    @td.skip_if_has_locale
-    def test_between_time_formats(self, frame_or_series):
-        # GH#11818
-        rng = date_range("1/1/2000", "1/5/2000", freq="5min")
-        ts = DataFrame(np.random.randn(len(rng), 2), index=rng)
-        ts = tm.get_obj(ts, frame_or_series)
-
-        strings = [
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
+        "time_string",
+        [
             ("2:00", "2:30"),
             ("0200", "0230"),
             ("2:00am", "2:30am"),
@@ -34,11 +29,23 @@ def test_between_time_formats(self, frame_or_series):
             ("020000", "023000"),
             ("2:00:00am", "2:30:00am"),
             ("020000am", "023000am"),
-        ]
-        expected_length = 28
+        ],
+    )
+    def test_between_time_formats(self, request, time_string, frame_or_series):
+        # GH#11818
+        request.node.add_marker(
+            pytest.mark.xfail(
+                "am" in time_string[0] and locale.getlocale()[0] == "zh_CN",
+                reason="Does not pass with LC_ALL=zh_CN.utf8",
+            )
+        )
+        rng = date_range("1/1/2000", "1/5/2000", freq="5min")
+        ts = DataFrame(np.random.randn(len(rng), 2), index=rng)
+        if frame_or_series is Series:
+            ts = ts[0]
 
-        for time_string in strings:
-            assert len(ts.between_time(*time_string)) == expected_length
+        expected_length = 28
+        assert len(ts.between_time(*time_string)) == expected_length
 
     @pytest.mark.parametrize("tzstr", ["US/Eastern", "dateutil/US/Eastern"])
     def test_localized_between_time(self, tzstr, frame_or_series):
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/conftest.py b/pandas/tests/io/conftest.py
index 86842f6a608d6..8fd18f069ad2f 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/conftest.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/conftest.py
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@
 from pandas.io.parsers import read_csv
 
 
+@pytest.fixture(params=tm.TESTING_LOCALES, autouse=True)
+def with_locale(request):
+    with tm.set_locale(request.param):
+        yield
+
+
 @pytest.fixture
 def tips_file(datapath):
     """Path to the tips dataset"""
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/excel/test_readers.py b/pandas/tests/io/excel/test_readers.py
index 7d18c2e63e74f..b3ceef1a1bb7b 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/excel/test_readers.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/excel/test_readers.py
@@ -738,9 +738,10 @@ def test_bad_sheetname_raises(self, read_ext, sheet_name):
 
     def test_missing_file_raises(self, read_ext):
         bad_file = f"foo{read_ext}"
-        # CI tests with zh_CN.utf8, translates to "No such file or directory"
+        # Error message matches CI locales: "No such file or directory"
         with pytest.raises(
-            FileNotFoundError, match=r"(No such file or directory|没有那个文件或目录)"
+            FileNotFoundError,
+            match=r"(No such file or directory|没有那个文件或目录|File o directory)",
         ):
             pd.read_excel(bad_file)
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/parser/common/test_index.py b/pandas/tests/io/parser/common/test_index.py
index 69afb9fe56472..50dc7db918c9c 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/parser/common/test_index.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/parser/common/test_index.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 """
 from datetime import datetime
 from io import StringIO
+import locale
 import os
 
 import pytest
@@ -85,7 +86,7 @@ def test_pass_names_with_index(all_parsers, data, kwargs, expected):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("index_col", [[0, 1], [1, 0]])
-def test_multi_index_no_level_names(all_parsers, index_col):
+def test_multi_index_no_level_names(request, all_parsers, index_col):
     data = """index1,index2,A,B,C,D
 foo,one,2,3,4,5
 foo,two,7,8,9,10
@@ -93,6 +94,12 @@ def test_multi_index_no_level_names(all_parsers, index_col):
 bar,one,12,13,14,15
 bar,two,12,13,14,15
 """
+    if locale.getlocale()[0] != "zh_CN":
+        request.node.add_marker(
+            pytest.mark.xfail(
+                reason="Only passes with LC_ALL=zh_CN.utf8",
+            )
+        )
     headless_data = "\n".join(data.split("\n")[1:])
 
     names = ["A", "B", "C", "D"]
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/parser/test_parse_dates.py b/pandas/tests/io/parser/test_parse_dates.py
index 1dfd81366de72..aeb65a13c0f7c 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/parser/test_parse_dates.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/parser/test_parse_dates.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
     datetime,
 )
 from io import StringIO
+import locale
 import warnings
 
 from dateutil.parser import parse as du_parse
@@ -862,7 +863,7 @@ def test_parse_dates_column_list(all_parsers, parse_dates):
 
 @xfail_pyarrow
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("index_col", [[0, 1], [1, 0]])
-def test_multi_index_parse_dates(all_parsers, index_col):
+def test_multi_index_parse_dates(request, all_parsers, index_col):
     data = """index1,index2,A,B,C
 20090101,one,a,1,2
 20090101,two,b,3,4
@@ -874,6 +875,12 @@ def test_multi_index_parse_dates(all_parsers, index_col):
 20090103,two,b,3,4
 20090103,three,c,4,5
 """
+    request.node.add_marker(
+        pytest.mark.xfail(
+            locale.getlocale()[0] == "it_IT" and index_col == ["index2", "index1"],
+            reason="Only passes with LC_ALL=zh_CN.utf8",
+        )
+    )
     parser = all_parsers
     index = MultiIndex.from_product(
         [
@@ -1841,7 +1848,7 @@ def test_parse_dates_and_keep_orgin_column(all_parsers):
     tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
 
 
-def test_dayfirst_warnings():
+def test_dayfirst_warnings(request):
     # GH 12585
     warning_msg_day_first = (
         "Parsing '31/12/2014' in DD/MM/YYYY format. Provide "
@@ -1883,6 +1890,12 @@ def test_dayfirst_warnings():
 
     # D. infer_datetime_format=True overrides dayfirst default
     # no warning + correct result
+    request.node.add_marker(
+        pytest.mark.xfail(
+            locale.getlocale()[0] == "zh_CN",
+            reason="Does not pass with LC_ALL=zh_CN.utf8",
+        )
+    )
     res4 = read_csv(
         StringIO(input),
         parse_dates=["date"],
diff --git a/pandas/tests/strings/conftest.py b/pandas/tests/strings/conftest.py
index 15cc5af97a2d6..8e52f1f5a5f13 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/strings/conftest.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/strings/conftest.py
@@ -2,8 +2,16 @@
 import pytest
 
 from pandas import Series
+import pandas._testing as tm
 from pandas.core import strings as strings
 
+
+@pytest.fixture(params=tm.TESTING_LOCALES, autouse=True)
+def with_locale(request):
+    with tm.set_locale(request.param):
+        yield
+
+
 _any_string_method = [
     ("cat", (), {"sep": ","}),
     ("cat", (Series(list("zyx")),), {"sep": ",", "join": "left"}),
diff --git a/pandas/tests/tools/conftest.py b/pandas/tests/tools/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..e054eec7fa383
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pandas/tests/tools/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import pytest
+
+import pandas._testing as tm
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(params=tm.TESTING_LOCALES, autouse=True)
+def with_locale(request):
+    with tm.set_locale(request.param):
+        yield
diff --git a/pandas/tests/tools/test_to_datetime.py b/pandas/tests/tools/test_to_datetime.py
index 013af7eb90cd3..3c8cc09d208da 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/tools/test_to_datetime.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/tools/test_to_datetime.py
@@ -282,43 +282,42 @@ def test_to_datetime_format_microsecond(self, cache):
                 "%m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S",
                 Timestamp("2010-01-10 13:56:01"),
             ],
-            pytest.param(
+            [
                 "01/10/2010 08:14 PM",
                 "%m/%d/%Y %I:%M %p",
                 Timestamp("2010-01-10 20:14"),
-                marks=pytest.mark.xfail(
-                    locale.getlocale()[0] == "zh_CN",
-                    reason="fail on a CI build with LC_ALL=zh_CN.utf8",
-                ),
-            ),
-            pytest.param(
+            ],
+            [
                 "01/10/2010 07:40 AM",
                 "%m/%d/%Y %I:%M %p",
                 Timestamp("2010-01-10 07:40"),
-                marks=pytest.mark.xfail(
-                    locale.getlocale()[0] == "zh_CN",
-                    reason="fail on a CI build with LC_ALL=zh_CN.utf8",
-                ),
-            ),
-            pytest.param(
+            ],
+            [
                 "01/10/2010 09:12:56 AM",
                 "%m/%d/%Y %I:%M:%S %p",
                 Timestamp("2010-01-10 09:12:56"),
-                marks=pytest.mark.xfail(
-                    locale.getlocale()[0] == "zh_CN",
-                    reason="fail on a CI build with LC_ALL=zh_CN.utf8",
-                ),
-            ),
+            ],
         ],
     )
-    def test_to_datetime_format_time(self, cache, value, format, dt):
+    def test_to_datetime_format_time(self, request, cache, value, format, dt):
+        request.node.add_marker(
+            pytest.mark.xfail(
+                "%p" in format and locale.getlocale()[0] == "zh_CN",
+                reason="Does not pass with LC_ALL=zh_CN.utf8",
+            )
+        )
         assert to_datetime(value, format=format, cache=cache) == dt
 
-    @td.skip_if_has_locale
-    def test_to_datetime_with_non_exact(self, cache):
+    def test_to_datetime_with_non_exact(self, request, cache):
         # GH 10834
         # 8904
         # exact kw
+        request.node.add_marker(
+            pytest.mark.xfail(
+                locale.getlocale()[0] != "en_US",
+                reason="Only passes with LC_ALL=en_US.utf8",
+            )
+        )
         ser = Series(
             ["19MAY11", "foobar19MAY11", "19MAY11:00:00:00", "19MAY11 00:00:00Z"]
         )
@@ -1670,21 +1669,29 @@ def test_to_datetime_with_space_in_series(self, cache):
         result_ignore = to_datetime(ser, errors="ignore", cache=cache)
         tm.assert_series_equal(result_ignore, ser)
 
-    @td.skip_if_has_locale
-    def test_to_datetime_with_apply(self, cache):
-        # this is only locale tested with US/None locales
+    def test_to_datetime_with_apply(self, request, cache):
         # GH 5195
         # with a format and coerce a single item to_datetime fails
+        request.node.add_marker(
+            pytest.mark.xfail(
+                locale.getlocale()[0] != "en_US",
+                reason="Only passes with LC_ALL=en_US.utf8",
+            )
+        )
         td = Series(["May 04", "Jun 02", "Dec 11"], index=[1, 2, 3])
         expected = to_datetime(td, format="%b %y", cache=cache)
         result = td.apply(to_datetime, format="%b %y", cache=cache)
         tm.assert_series_equal(result, expected)
 
-    @td.skip_if_has_locale
-    def test_to_datetime_with_apply_with_empty_str(self, cache):
-        # this is only locale tested with US/None locales
+    def test_to_datetime_with_apply_with_empty_str(self, request, cache):
         # GH 5195
         # with a format and coerce a single item to_datetime fails
+        request.node.add_marker(
+            pytest.mark.xfail(
+                locale.getlocale()[0] != "en_US",
+                reason="Only passes with LC_ALL=en_US.utf8",
+            )
+        )
         td = Series(["May 04", "Jun 02", ""], index=[1, 2, 3])
         msg = r"time data '' does not match format '%b %y' \(match\)"
         with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=msg):
@@ -1891,7 +1898,7 @@ def test_dayfirst(self, cache):
         tm.assert_index_equal(expected, idx5)
         tm.assert_index_equal(expected, idx6)
 
-    def test_dayfirst_warnings_valid_input(self):
+    def test_dayfirst_warnings_valid_input(self, request):
         # GH 12585
         warning_msg_day_first = (
             "Parsing '31/12/2014' in DD/MM/YYYY format. Provide "
@@ -1923,6 +1930,12 @@ def test_dayfirst_warnings_valid_input(self):
 
         # D. infer_datetime_format=True overrides dayfirst default
         # no warning + correct result
+        request.node.add_marker(
+            pytest.mark.xfail(
+                locale.getlocale()[0] == "zh_CN",
+                reason="Does not pass with LC_ALL=zh_CN.utf8",
+            )
+        )
         res4 = to_datetime(arr, infer_datetime_format=True)
         tm.assert_index_equal(expected_consistent, res4)
 
@@ -1979,7 +1992,6 @@ def test_to_datetime_dta_tz(self, klass):
 
 
 class TestGuessDatetimeFormat:
-    @td.skip_if_not_us_locale
     @pytest.mark.parametrize(
         "test_array",
         [
@@ -1992,7 +2004,13 @@ class TestGuessDatetimeFormat:
             ["2011-12-30 00:00:00.000000", "random_string"],
         ],
     )
-    def test_guess_datetime_format_for_array(self, test_array):
+    def test_guess_datetime_format_for_array(self, request, test_array):
+        request.node.add_marker(
+            pytest.mark.xfail(
+                locale.getlocale()[0] == "zh_CN",
+                reason="Does not pass with LC_ALL=zh_CN.utf8",
+            )
+        )
         expected_format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%f"
         assert tools._guess_datetime_format_for_array(test_array) == expected_format
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/tools/test_to_time.py b/pandas/tests/tools/test_to_time.py
index 968102ce9edde..e7ad82e0dbfed 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/tools/test_to_time.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/tools/test_to_time.py
@@ -9,11 +9,6 @@
 from pandas.core.tools.datetimes import to_time as to_time_alias
 from pandas.core.tools.times import to_time
 
-fails_on_zh_cn = pytest.mark.xfail(
-    locale.getlocale()[0] == "zh_CN",
-    reason="fail on a CI build with LC_ALL=zh_CN.utf8",
-)
-
 
 class TestToTime:
     @pytest.mark.parametrize(
@@ -21,17 +16,25 @@ class TestToTime:
         [
             "14:15",
             "1415",
-            pytest.param("2:15pm", marks=fails_on_zh_cn),
-            pytest.param("0215pm", marks=fails_on_zh_cn),
+            "2:15pm",
+            "0215pm",
             "14:15:00",
             "141500",
-            pytest.param("2:15:00pm", marks=fails_on_zh_cn),
-            pytest.param("021500pm", marks=fails_on_zh_cn),
+            "2:15:00pm",
+            "021500pm",
             time(14, 15),
         ],
     )
-    def test_parsers_time(self, time_string):
+    def test_parsers_time(self, request, time_string):
         # GH#11818
+        request.node.add_marker(
+            pytest.mark.xfail(
+                isinstance(time_string, str)
+                and "pm" in time_string
+                and locale.getlocale()[0] == "zh_CN",
+                reason="fail on a CI build with LC_ALL=zh_CN.utf8",
+            )
+        )
         assert to_time(time_string) == time(14, 15)
 
     def test_odd_format(self):
diff --git a/pandas/tests/tslibs/conftest.py b/pandas/tests/tslibs/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..e054eec7fa383
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pandas/tests/tslibs/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import pytest
+
+import pandas._testing as tm
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(params=tm.TESTING_LOCALES, autouse=True)
+def with_locale(request):
+    with tm.set_locale(request.param):
+        yield
diff --git a/pandas/tests/tslibs/test_parsing.py b/pandas/tests/tslibs/test_parsing.py
index 3d2daec442c38..f5c5b79a6b46a 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/tslibs/test_parsing.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/tslibs/test_parsing.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 Tests for Timestamp parsing, aimed at pandas/_libs/tslibs/parsing.pyx
 """
 from datetime import datetime
+import locale
 import re
 
 from dateutil.parser import parse
@@ -10,7 +11,6 @@
 
 from pandas._libs.tslibs import parsing
 from pandas._libs.tslibs.parsing import parse_time_string
-import pandas.util._test_decorators as td
 
 import pandas._testing as tm
 
@@ -135,7 +135,6 @@ def test_parsers_month_freq(date_str, expected):
     assert result == expected
 
 
-@td.skip_if_not_us_locale
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "string,fmt",
     [
@@ -171,7 +170,19 @@ def test_parsers_month_freq(date_str, expected):
         ("Tuesday 24 Aug 2021 01:30:48 AM", "%A %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %p"),
     ],
 )
-def test_guess_datetime_format_with_parseable_formats(string, fmt):
+def test_guess_datetime_format_with_parseable_formats(request, string, fmt):
+    request.node.add_marker(
+        pytest.mark.xfail(
+            fmt and fmt.endswith("%p") and locale.getlocale()[0] == "it_IT",
+            reason="Only passes with LC_ALL=en_US.utf8",
+        )
+    )
+    request.node.add_marker(
+        pytest.mark.xfail(
+            fmt not in (None, "%Y%m%d") and locale.getlocale()[0] == "zh_CN",
+            reason="Only passes with LC_ALL=en_US.utf8",
+        )
+    )
     result = parsing.guess_datetime_format(string)
     assert result == fmt
 
@@ -183,7 +194,6 @@ def test_guess_datetime_format_with_dayfirst(dayfirst, expected):
     assert result == expected
 
 
-@td.skip_if_has_locale
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "string,fmt",
     [
@@ -192,7 +202,13 @@ def test_guess_datetime_format_with_dayfirst(dayfirst, expected):
         ("30/Dec/2011 00:00:00", "%d/%b/%Y %H:%M:%S"),
     ],
 )
-def test_guess_datetime_format_with_locale_specific_formats(string, fmt):
+def test_guess_datetime_format_with_locale_specific_formats(request, string, fmt):
+    request.node.add_marker(
+        pytest.mark.xfail(
+            locale.getlocale()[0] != "en_US",
+            reason="Only passes with LC_ALL=en_US.utf8",
+        )
+    )
     result = parsing.guess_datetime_format(string)
     assert result == fmt
 
diff --git a/pandas/util/_test_decorators.py b/pandas/util/_test_decorators.py
index 7c5c0959ceaa0..7ce5460867fa9 100644
--- a/pandas/util/_test_decorators.py
+++ b/pandas/util/_test_decorators.py
@@ -101,12 +101,6 @@ def _skip_if_no_mpl():
         return True
 
 
-def _skip_if_has_locale():
-    lang, _ = locale.getlocale()
-    if lang is not None:
-        return True
-
-
 def _skip_if_not_us_locale():
     lang, _ = locale.getlocale()
     if lang != "en_US":
@@ -184,9 +178,6 @@ def skip_if_no(package: str, min_version: str | None = None):
 skip_if_mpl = pytest.mark.skipif(not _skip_if_no_mpl(), reason="matplotlib is present")
 skip_if_32bit = pytest.mark.skipif(not IS64, reason="skipping for 32 bit")
 skip_if_windows = pytest.mark.skipif(is_platform_windows(), reason="Running on Windows")
-skip_if_has_locale = pytest.mark.skipif(
-    _skip_if_has_locale(), reason=f"Specific locale is set {locale.getlocale()[0]}"
-)
 skip_if_not_us_locale = pytest.mark.skipif(
     _skip_if_not_us_locale(), reason=f"Specific locale is set {locale.getlocale()[0]}"
 )