Method
How an entry is built
An entry is a set of quoted statements with dates, plus a few labels derived from them by rules you can read here. If the rule and the statement are both on the page, a reader can check the label without trusting us.
Step 1: the record
Each hospital has one record in ChinaMedMap's repository. For every statement in it, the editor writes down which page it was read on and when. The pages are the hospital's official site and, where the city publishes one, the municipal medical guide for foreigners. The 105 pages behind the current build are, by type: 40government, 64official provider site, 1university. The build is from repository revision b631802, imported 2026-11-12.
Only records marked published and public are imported. Internal notes never reach this site.
Step 2: the three reading rules
- Write down what the page states, in that scope. If a language list is given for one campus, the entry says so; it is not stretched to the whole hospital.
- Leave a gap where the page is silent. "Not stated" or "Not found" means exactly that. It is never read as "no".
- Date everything. The read date is on the entry and on each source line.
Step 3: the derived labels
The directory rows and the city tables show short labels. Each is produced from a quoted statement by a fixed rule:
- Languages named. Taken from the hospital's language statement only when that statement is marked confirmed from an official page, and only for names on this list: English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Indonesian, Polish, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Italian, Vietnamese, Thai. A confirmed statement that names none, such as "multilingual", shows as "stated, not itemised". Today 20 hospitals name at least one language and 3 state support without naming any. A language gets a page of its own once 3 hospitals name it.
- Reach it by. Which of phone, email, WeChat, app, online and in-person routes the hospital's own booking notes mention, found by matching words and number patterns in those notes. The notes themselves are on the hospital page.
- Insurer billing. "Stated" when the hospital says its desk settles directly with commercial insurers (19 hospitals today). The sentence, and any list of insurers, is quoted on the hospital page.
- Where the desk sits. The location the hospital gives for the desk, or failing that the campus whose name mentions the international service, or the main campus. Tables show the first clause of it.
- Specialty grouping. A department on the hospital's own list is grouped under a specialty when its English name matches the pattern printed on that specialty page. A specialty page exists only once 3 hospitals match.
Step 4: record status
"Read from official pages by one editor" is the starting status of every record. It rises when a second person reopens the sources, or when the hospital confirms its contact details or international service to ChinaMedMap. Today 0 of 36 entries are above the starting status. The status describes checking, not quality.
What never appears
- Scores, stars, rankings, "best" and "top" lists. Order is alphabetical on every page.
- Reviews and testimonials.
- Prices and waiting times, unless a hospital publishes them with a date.
- Claims about outcomes.
- Paid placement. Hospitals do not pay to be listed and cannot change their position. A commercial relationship, if one exists, is stated on the entry.
Corrections
Report through the About page. The fix is made in the record with its new source, and the whole site is rebuilt, so the directory, the tables and this page always agree.