HarperCollins and the People's Literature Publishing House plan to launch a series of co-operative ventures in China to promote the distribution of translated works of Chinese authors internationally. The companies, which announced the project yesterday, signed an agreement in Beijing for the translation of works by Chinese authors for publication overseas. HarperCollins said five Chinese classics would be translated into English to launch the venture. The company said the titles had not been chosen yet. Jane Friedman, president and chief executive of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, said her company saw the translation of Chinese literary works 'as an underserved category and, therefore, an opportunity'. The companies also announced the publishing of Snowbird in the US, Britain and China. The story, by 12-year-old Nancy Yi Fan, first came to the attention of HarperCollins when she e-mailed the manuscript to Ms Friedman. HarperCollins also announced the launch of Cidian.cn, an online service providing a full English-Chinese translation dictionary and English dictionary.
