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What does "Fangcang" literally mean in "Fangcang hospital" where China relocated those infected with Covid-19, but who had only mild (or no) symptoms?

Somewhat "close but no cigar", a Lancet paper explains

The term Fangcang, which sounds similar to Noah's Ark in Chinese, was borrowed from military field hospitals [...]

But it's still not clear to me what the word actually means.

the gods from engineering
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Edit:

After reading fefe's comment, I did more search and found this 方舱医院是什么

方舱医院是以医疗方舱为载体，医疗与医技保障功能综合集成的可快速部署的成套野外移动医疗平台

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So "方舱" is obviously referring to those rectangular mobile units.

方舱医院 should be translated as "mobile cabins hospital"

As for the relationship between 方 and 方舟, may just be a coincidence

It is easy for people who never heard of 方舱 to link 方 with 方舟, due to the current crisis. If 方舱医院 didn't exist before this pandemic, my previous theory would be a fitting one

Previous theory:

"Noah's Ark" in Chinese is 「諾亞方舟」 or 「方舟」 (literally mean 'square ship') 「方艙」(Fangcang) is made up of 「方舟」and 「艙」(cabin) "Fangcang hospital" literally mean "Cabins of Noah's Ark hospital" We all know what the term 'Noah's Ark' implies

Tang Ho
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  • Do you have a source that show this theory? – fefe Apr 06 '20 at 12:46
  • 「方艙」 is mentioned here http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/232108/2020/0207/413521.html. Notice 艙 Radical is 舟, Which mean 艙 is referring to ship cabin – Tang Ho Apr 06 '20 at 12:48
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    I mean, the link between 方舱 and 诺亚方舟 – fefe Apr 06 '20 at 12:50
  • Notice 艙 Radical is 舟, Which mean 艙 is originally referring to ship cabin – Tang Ho Apr 06 '20 at 12:52
  • That is true for the character 舱, for that does not mean "方舱" has anything to do with "诺亚方舟". I never heard that "方舱" originated from "诺亚方舟", and didn't find anything with a search on the internet. – fefe Apr 06 '20 at 12:58
  • What does "square" have to do with the current crisis? 方舟 certainly does. If square is referring to the shape of the hospital. it would be called 正方形医院 – Tang Ho Apr 06 '20 at 12:59
  • Several articles mention that the word "方舱" existed before this crisis. But as it was used in limited areas (e.g. military), most people never heard of it. – fefe Apr 06 '20 at 13:05
  • May be military use the term "方舱" because 方舟 is related to 'emergency, shelter, isolation, doomsday event etc.' While "正方形船舱医院" doesn't has any obvious implications. If we don't have the current crisis, I might not think of 方 referring to 方舟 – Tang Ho Apr 06 '20 at 13:11
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    It seems that "方舱" is not limited to be used for hospitals. It has a lot of other use in the military. here a lot of different 方舱 are listed: "军、民用方舱、防弹方舱、通讯方舱、移动方舱、监测方舱、气象方舱、医疗方舱" – fefe Apr 06 '20 at 13:18
  • I found no source that says 方舱 was originally used for medical purposes. – fefe Apr 06 '20 at 13:19
  • You are right, see the edition in my answer – Tang Ho Apr 06 '20 at 13:38
  • BTW, 方舱 does also serve medical purposes – Tang Ho Apr 06 '20 at 13:50
  • @Tang Ho. If your Noah"s Ark connection theory was actually at the back of the minds of the people who named the hospital, it wouldn't surprise anyone since the Coronavirus was transmitted from animals to humans; then just think of all those animals on Noah's Ark?. I think your theory has a better ring to it than the plain old unimaginative "Square Cabin Hospital" How all the bright minds over at the Medical Stack couldn't make the Ark connection is surprising. :) – Wayne Cheah Apr 06 '20 at 14:05
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Literally, "Fang" means "square". "Cang" means "cabin". So it just means square cabin hospital. The Chinese Army call it this name just for imaginary and brevity.

X.M.Du
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方舱医院 = field hospital. The London Edexcel Hospital (the temporary one made in the previous exhibition centre/olympics venue) is called, in Mandarin news reports, a 方舱医院。 so in current usage, i'd say "field hospital" is the best translation; (it's not made of square modular cabins, and it's not military, so i would drop the "military" out of our usual phrase of a military field hospital.)

George Norris
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  • field hospital is translated as 野战医院. they can be just a bunch of tents. 方舱医院 is a kind of field hospital , but it is more specific on how it is constructed – Tang Ho Jun 20 '20 at 23:51