A group of single persons gather at the Dinosaur's Love Bank in Beijing to share their emotional experiences. Da Wei / For China Daily

Wang Tian is busy at her cafe. Ding Luyang / China Daily

Left: Artifacts from failed relationships are stored at the Dinosaur's Love Bank. Da Wei / For China Daily Right: Wang Tian's Love Museum is free for people to store their exes' keepsakes. Ding Luyang / China Daily

Love Museum is a part of Wang Tian's Wuyang Cafe. Ding Luyang / China Daily

An industry is growing up around splitting up, namely the storage of mementos from failed relationships. Sun Li reports.

Wang Tian has turned her own broken heart - and others' - into a business opportunity.

When the sophomore at a university in Jilin's provincial capital Changchun lost her boyfriend because she was spending too much time running her new cafe, she gave him back his stuff - except for a T-shirt, which she displayed in what has since become the cafe's "Love Museum".

The museum - a shrine of artifacts from about 20 failed relationships - has increased the popularity of her java joint, which is otherwise typical.

Visitors can see the mementos - cards, notes, a Rubik's Cube - from past relationships and leave their own.

"It's a place to deposit former tokens of love and wave farewell to past relationships," Wang says.

Wang says she opened the bar with two friends at the end of last year to create a place they could socialize.

She became so engrossed in establishing the bar - selecting the site, decorating the interior and learning to make coffee - her boyfriend began to feel neglected.

"I would threaten to break up every time we had a tiff, but he would always back off and console me," she says.

"And then, one time, he didn't."

So, she returned all of his things, except for the T-shirt.

"I wanted to cry when I saw the T-shirt," she recalls.

"I realized many other people who've undergone breakups have mementos from their failed loves."

So Wang talked her business partners into offering a specific place for people to leave these at the cafe in January.

She also posted an announcement on the cafe window, inviting people to leave items from their exes as a way to say goodbye.

More than 20 people, mostly college students, have heeded the call.

It's free, and people can always take their keepsakes back.

"I didn't think of it as a way to make money," she says.

"But, to my surprise, it brought in a lot more people and made business boom."

She also receives calls from people from other regions who hope to store their exes' keepsakes.

"Our space is currently limited, but if a lot of new items come in, I'll consider opening another coffee shop," Wang says.

"I'm happy to see people find resolution while also expanding my business."

While Wang's Love Museum is free, the "love bank" that former art dealer Gong Yelong founded in Beijing in 2009 isn't.

Deposits at the Dinosaur's Love Bank on Guloudajie range from 10-60 yuan ($1.59-9.53) a month, depending on the items' values. Items include toys, cups and books.

The bank signs contracts with customers to assure them of the bank's responsibility to take care of the items, Gong says.

Gong has had a few hundred clients so far. Most are women around age 30.

"But most of the keepsakes are inexpensive," he says.

"I'd like to get more valuable mementos, so I can make more money."

Gong says he got the idea when one of his friends, who was getting married, was agonizing over what to do with his exes' items.

"It would be a pity to throw them out, but it's not appropriate to keep them," Gong says.

He surveyed his friends and found about 80 percent faced the same dilemma.

Realizing it's a common situation, Huo Weilong, a junior at Xinzhou Teachers' University in Shanxi province, is setting up his own love bank online, in addition to a brick-and-mortar store.

The 22-year-old and five friends have gathered nearly 100,000 yuan for the business.

"I found campus love often leads to breakups, because it's immature and blind," Huo says.

"Many college students worry about what they should do with their exes' stuff. I want to start the love bank because it provides an easy answer."

Yunnan University sociology professor Jin Ziqiang says people tend to do everything - including date and marry - in a rush in today's fast-paced society.

"Unfortunately, people break up just as fast," Jin says.

Jin believes the past-love memento storage business is a natural consequence and a clever solution to the challenge of preserving history without harming the present.

"The business could help people, especially youths, reflect and learn to be more understanding and cherish their next relationship," Jin says.