Seeing their worlds through my tears

Reporter's Log | Liu Kun

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I've covered many touching stories about moral models, such as that of the brothers who donated their skin to save their severely burned father.

I once believed the more I reported on such people, the less they would move me.

I was wrong.

I couldn't hold back my tears after interviewing Yi Qin and her 12 mentally disabled employees.

Yi Qin is a typical Wuhan woman - straightforward and stubborn.

Media wanted to talk to Yi after her relative shared her story with journalists. But she refused interviews. Vehemently.

Yi was concerned her deeds might be misconstrued as actions performed in the pursuit of fame.

For many years, many people have said: "She wouldn't do what she does if there wasn't something in it for her."

It took journalists and her husband eight hours to persuade her to finally accept interviews.

Yi wept as she recalled the hardships. We were also moved to tears.

She didn't flaunt her "greatness" as many interviewees do.

She even confessed that her initial motivation was to maximize profits, since mentally disabled staff members didn't require her to pay for employment security funds.

But she didn't expect it would become something much deeper than cutting costs.

Yi's father was a soldier, and her family was strict with her. Her dad taught her that living with a clear conscience is the most important principle of humanity, she recalls.

So, she couldn't give up on her employees, she says.

Every family with a mentally disabled member has experienced its own bitterness.

Li Chao's mother recalls discovering her son's peers mercilessly bullied him. She furiously cursed them and threatened to beat them and throw them in the river.

She sobbed as she hugged her son.

"Families without a mentally disabled child can never know our pain," she says.

This was a point every family emphasized. These parents love their children. Li's mother decided to devote her life to her son and to not have another child.

Ma Ning's disability isn't severe. He speaks slowly and requires listeners' patience. His greatest wish is to make friends who don't despise him.

When you peer deeply into the worlds of people with mental disabilities, you see they're pure and kind, and as emotional as anyone else. They desperately want to be respected and understood.

And they can discover their value at Dongfanghong Food Factory.

We were shocked when Yi showed us the products her workers made. The traditional snack boxes are packaged as beautifully as high-end cosmetics. It's hard to believe they are assembled by adults with IQs comparable to those of children as young as 3.

That's one of the reasons Yi won't give up.

But she feels regrets about her family, about not making the factory profitable, and about the severe spondylodynia and lumbar spondylosis caused by thousands of repetitive motions.

The experiences of Yi and her "children" can't be fully covered in one article. But I've tried my best to tell their stories honestly and faithfully.

They're able to make quality products and deserve our respect.