An Abandoned“Depressed Family”by IBM China

• Author: Lin Fenghua，translated by Wen Chunzhong

On 16 June 2011, International Business Machines Corp (IBM) announced that it would commemorate its centennial with a focus on giving back to the community. However, while 400,000 employees of IBM were celebrating, a former IBM employee Yuan Yipeng who is known as “the first person who fought discrimination against people with depression”, decided to take his own life on this day by jumping into Huangpu River at 7 o’clock in the evening.

Before he set off for the river, he posted a message on his microblog, “I’m on my way. I’m a nobody. I can not understand the feeling that the (IBM) Chief Executive may have had when he walked past my mother who was kneeling on the ground, got into his car and sped off. Do please pass on this message to him: I love my mother, as much as you do!”

Mother “Was Made to Disappear”

As IBM was busy presenting a caring image to the world and attracting media’s attention to its 100 years’ glorious history, Yuan Yipeng chose to put an end to his five year dispute with IBM by committing suicide. On the same day, his elderly parents were also involved in a nerve-racking incident at Huan Yu Building (where IBM’s research center is) in a town called Dong Bei Wang in Beijing.

Seeking justice for son

“I somehow lost my wife.” Yuan Qinghuai’s distressed and somewhat ashamed voice came from the other end of the phone. It was on the day of 16 June 2011. His voice was in sharp contrast to what the reporter of Xinhua News Agency – Top Brands remembered when seeing him a month ago protesting in front of Beijing Pangu Plaza where IBM China headquarter is. The voice then was powerful and energetic.

At that time I saw two haggard looking elderly people in ragged clothes shouting at the top of their voices over and over again, “IBM — Guilty!” They are Yuan Qinghuai and Zhao Lingye, the parents of Yuan Yipeng.

The surface of the ground was very hot under the scorching sun. But the two elderly people were unrelentingly guarding a few yellowish pieces of cardboard covered with dense handwritings. Although the writings were a bit messy, one can sense the anger and frustration they carried. In those writings the characters of “IBM” were particularly striking.

Though lots of IBM employees went in and out of the high-rise, most were in a rush. Two Westerners with suitcases came out of the building, stopped briefly to look at the writings. Another middle-aged man pointed to the notes and said “IBM” to them. They whispered with each other for a while, shook their heads, then got on a taxi and left.

Yuan Qinghuai told the reporter with a strong Wuhan accent, “My son was unfairly dismissed by IBM due to his depression…All my wife and I can do now is to seek justice openly outside the IBM buildings.” While talking he took out a pile of “evidence documents” from a stained old bag and showed them to the reporter, and thanked the reporter repeatedly for her interest.

Around 3:00 pm on June 16, Yuan Qinghuai phoned the reporter and said he was in a police station. Since he could not find his wife and her phone was not answered, he decided to protest openly in front of the IBM R&D centre in Dongbeiwang, Beijing. Just as Medias on the spot were gathering around him, the cardboard notes on the ground were robbed.

“What happened was that when IBM security guards came to break up the crowd, a few vicious looking people quickly approached and raided my cardboard notes on the ground. I called the police immediately. A police officer named Cao took me and the guards to a local police station. There I reported to the police that my wife was missing.” Yuan Qinghuai said that he lost contact with his wife since 11 am that day.

“Missing” for 7 hours

At 6 pm on 16 June, Yuan Qinghuai found his wife with the help of the police. Still shaken, Zhao Lingye told reporters, “Around 11am, I went to sit outside the IBM R&D Centre as usual, with a banner hanging from my neck. I could see that there were more people around and the security guards were all wearing armbands. I sensed that there might be important activities going on today. After a while, one woman and three men came to me saying that they wanted to have a chat with me. I refused. They then forced me to get into a van which has been parked there for some time.”

Zhao Lingye said that after 10 minutes drive, the van stopped just outside an Internet café. The woman got off. At that moment Zhao Lingye remembered that she saw the woman two days ago when this women and “Xiao” Lei — an employee of IBM Pangu Plaza Security Department— were checking the security arrangement around IBM Software Park. When Zhao was taken to the van, “Xiao” Lei was standing nearby. He witnessed the whole incident but did nothing.

“I was in the van for over 7 hours. They offered me food and drink, but I didn’t take any. They told me later, ‘Sometimes things can’t be resolved by legal means. It’d be better if you just go home.’ Soon after, a lawyer who claimed to be entrusted by IBM got into the car. I said to him, ‘What a coincidence that we should meet here.’ He replied, ‘If we don’t talk about it today, we may never have the opportunity to talk again.’”

“I told him, ‘I want the June 2008 arbitration ruling to be implemented.’ He said, ‘That is not possible. A possible solution is to pay you a sum of...