Multilingual Healthcare Landscapes at a China’s Border Hospital

Located in linguistically and culturally diverse regions, China’s border hospitals are strategically positioned as a key hub linking China’s healthcare communication to the neighboring countries. Language constitutes a key mechanism for articulating the geo-semiotic discourse of China’s regional integration in medical settings. Drawing on the concept of semiotic landscape (Gorter, 2018; Jaworski & Thurlow, 2010), this study examines how different linguistic and multimodal resources are strategically deployed to construct an image of China’s border hospital. This study was conducted at a China’s county hospital bordering Laos and Vietnam in April 2024 and data were collected from hospital public signage, online reports and other artefacts, semi-structured interviews with a full-time translator, a vice president and a office manager at the hospital. Findings center on the distribution and functions of different languages, namely Mandarin, English, Lao, Vietnamese and ethnic minority languages. A particular focus is given to the semiotic appropriation of how different languages work with other modes to construct the meaning-making process for local-transnational-global nexus of healthcare production and consumption. This study illustrates how language and semiotic resources can become the totality of material constituents for reconfiguring the multiple identities of China’s multilingual healthcare communication at periphery.