HarperCollins, through its U.K. Collins reference publishing group, has signed a copublishing agreement with China's Foreign Language and Research Press to publish bilingual dictionaries beginning in 2004. Following the release of the first English-Chinese/Chinese-English dictionary, HC expects to develop a number of dictionary products, ranging from pocket-sized titles to desk reference sets. Multimedia titles are also in the works. HC noted that English is studied or used by more than 250 million people in the country and that English is a compulsory subject for 120 million Chinese primary-school students.