Shanghai Brokenhearted Museum Ticket

The moment I stepped into the museum, what struck me first wasn’t the peculiarity of the exhibits, but the subtle resonance in the air. The walls were covered with yellowed letters, and various ‘old objects’ were neatly placed in glass display cases: keychains engraved with lovers’ names, un-sent engagement rings, umbrellas that accompanied the two through countless nights, and even a note that read ‘Let’s break up.’ Next to each item was a short piece of text, a few words that outlined a complete emotional trajectory—the thrill of the first encounter, the warm trivialities of being together, and the sobs and regrets of parting. I stood for a long time in front of a pillow embroidered with ‘Forever.’ The description said that it was embroidered by a couple who had been in love for eight years while preparing for their wedding, but a month before the wedding, they chose to let go due to differences in different places. The pillow’s stitches weren’t very fine, and some places even had the wrong colors, but the earnestness permeated through the fabric. At that moment, I suddenly thought of the notebook full of love words in my drawer, and the people I once thought I would be with forever. It turns out that ‘unrequited love’ is never someone’s exclusive predicament, and those pains that we thought were unique have long left similar marks in other people’s stories. This feeling of ‘being understood’ is like a pair of warm hands, gently smoothing out the wrinkles that have been accumulating in my heart for a long time. The special thing about the Shanghai Museum of Broken Relationships is that it never emphasizes sadness, but focuses on the temperature of ‘healing.’ At the end of the exhibition hall, there is a ‘Release Wall’ where countless people write words to the past. Some write ‘Thank you for coming, no regrets for your departure,’ some write ‘I wish myself a bright future, and I wish you peace and joy,’ and some draw a big smiling face, with the note ‘Starting today, be yourself again.’ Looking at those crooked handwriting, I suddenly realized that people come here not to repeat the bitterness of memories, but to pour out the emotions that have been suppressed in their hearts and give the past a formal farewell. Just like the museum’s narrator said: ‘Every old object is an unfinished period, and putting it here is the courage to end the story.’