Love stories preserved in museum of breakups

In a shopping mall located in the center of Harbin city, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, a 200-square-meter museum displays items and real-life stories of people's breakups.

Themed dusty gray and pale white, small boards with heart-wrenching words hang from the ceiling and walls of the Museum of Broken Relationships. Various items on display have accompanying stories that the donors sent in.

"Since I posted the message on different online social platforms about collecting remnants of breakups in the beginning of March, I have received more than 1,000 calls from all over the country," said Liu Yan, the museum organizer.

"After listening to their stories, I accepted about 100 items from 50 people ranging from dozens of railway tickets to handwritten letters, a pair of shoes, a broken mobile phone and a new wedding dress."

Over the past two weeks, more than 18,000 visitors have visited the museum. Visitors pay 9.9 yuan ($1.50) for each ticket to the museum. "In fact, the idea originated after a bitter quarrel with my boyfriend," the 25-year-old said. "I was so sad that I considered breaking up with him.

"However, when I saw the elaborate gifts he had given me, all the wonderful times in the past came rushing back. I gave up the idea of breaking up which I might have ended up regretting and decided to organize the museum which may provide some experience to young people about love."

Liu left her job as a tour guide when she had the idea at the beginning of March and put all her savings of about 200,000 yuan into the business.

"All the items and stories have special meaning to the donors," she said.

"Some donors hope to emerge from the pain of breaking up by sharing their items and stories, while some donors want to help those in sweet relationships to cherish their lovers."

Among the exhibits that impressed Liu the most, she recalled a story of a woman whose fiance was in a traffic accident and died just two days before their wedding.

The woman, from Jilin province, donated a new wedding dress along with her love story.

"She told me that she spent 13 happy years with her boyfriend who was her first love," Liu said. "I felt sad when she cried and said she would never have the chance to wear the wedding dress."

Liu also said she found visitors often becoming emotional, suddenly bursting into tears or standing silently in front of the exhibits for quite a long time.

Dong Xin, a 23-year-old senior from a Harbin university, said, "Walking around the museum, I recalled lots of memories with my ex-boyfriend. We ended a four-year, long-distance relationship last year.

"I still have all the train tickets between our two cities well-preserved." She hopes Liu, the museum owner, can accept the tickets, which "may make it become a longer memory".

Liu said, "I plan to change the exhibits at regular intervals and bring the museum to different cities in the future.

"I also keep in contact with the donors. Whenever they want their belongings back, I will return them immediately. If they completely give them up, I will preserve them well."