An avid collector of art, Ye produced collections depicting the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai, Ming- and Qing-dynasty literati, and prominent Qing leaders.

While attending the Yuehua Academy (越華書院), he gained attention for a series of twelve works known collectively as the Mandarin Duck Poems, which were widely discussed in contemporary poetry circles.

[1] Living and operating in Beijing, Ye interacted frequently with artists and bureaucrats[1] and built an extensive art collection.

[5] He collected numerous antiquities, showing a fondness for early inscriptions and bronzes[6] and works from the Song dynasty.

[11] With Zhang Jingqi, Ye produced a book titled Qinhuai Bayan Tuyong (秦淮八豔圖詠) in 1892.

[15] A similar album, documenting Chinese literati from the Ming and Qing dynasties, is held by the National Museum of China and was the subject of an exhibition in 2022.

These included the Yinfu Jing by 7th-century calligrapher Chu Suiliang as well as the Duojing Lou by the 11th-century artist Mi Fu.

One, quoted in the Southern Metropolis Daily, reads: 文采翩翩絕世才 棲身池館亦蒿萊 湖邊翡翠傷心侶 江上芙蓉薄命胎 雲水為家雙宿慣 穠華被服五銖裁 生涯畢竟煙波好 不羨鯨魚跋浪開 A gifted writer of extraordinary talent Living in a pond pavilion, covered with weeds A sad couple of emeralds by the lake A fateful lotus on the river The clouds and water his home, and he lives alongside A gorgeous quilt made of five-zhu cloth Life is better in the mist and waves, after all I don't envy the whales that travel on the waves Imagery of the moon and flowers was common in his poetry.

With the destruction of the Beiyang Fleet during the First Sino-Japanese War, he wrote a poem titled "Bodhisattva" (菩薩蠻), which saw wide circulation.