经过...后

[laser2302]

I was reading a news article and I came across a line that said 经过民警紧急包扎后，女婴被送到市第九人民医院抢救。

Roughly what I understand from this sentence is that "After police bandaging, the baby was sent to the emergency treatment of 9th hospital"

Now I don't understand what the word 经过 means here. Is it some sort of a pattern 经过...后, if so then when do we use it and for what? Can't we simply say 民警紧急包扎后 instead of 经过民警紧急包扎后 or 经过民警紧急包扎 instead of 经过民警紧急包扎后.

[muyongshi]

Your understanding is pretty accurate in terms of the meaning however 经过 and 后 are not a set pattern or anthing like that. 后 simply means 以后. 经过 well have you tried look at your dictionary??? It means to pass, go through, undergo.

So she underwent bandaging and then after was sent to the hospital. You could emit 经过 but it would change the sentence quite a bit. And 后 like I said means 以后 so it is necessary for the time connectivity in the sentence.

[SWWLiu]

In terms of grammatical structures, you may look at it as the construct

Having been ... [past participle]

So, "Having been bandaged [p.p.] by the auxiliary police, the baby girl ...

You may use this construction with any other past participle, using the same word order.