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Jeff Ye - Jeff
Collection, New York
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Jeff
Ye, Representative of New York Senate |
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| Dr.
Jinsheng |
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Jeff
Ye
Jeff Collection, New York |
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A 3% Increase
in Heartbeat
Antiques, a Red Bowl, and the Blooming of Life .
Written on the occasion of
Mr. Jeff Ye’s New York Museum Presentation
Dr.
Jinsheng |
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Distinguished
guests, dear friends, and leaders of New York State
Good afternoon.
A few days ago, Mr. Jeff Ye returned to New York from
Dubai and called me, asking if I could invite some friends
to attend a small gathering today, April 10th, at his newly
established office on the
8th floor of Rockefeller Center on Fifth Avenue.
This marks the first presentation in New York—the cultural
and museum capital of the world—of his remarkable
collection. It represents over 30 years of dedication by
UAJP LLC and Heritage Art Holdings LLC in
discovering, preserving, and reintroducing some of the
finest treasures of classical Chinese civilization.
I gladly accepted.
What I am holding in my hand is an image of a red bowl.
But this is not just an object.
It is a door.
And when that door opens,
you begin to see a different way of living—
perhaps even a chance to see life begin again.
I have not known Mr.Ye for very long.
In my view, he is not a traditional collector.
He is more like a scientist—his undergraduate training was
in chemistry—an environmentalist, and he holds a doctorate
in international business from Peking University.
His profession is in real estate development,
yet the way he speaks reflects the mind of a thinker—
someone grounded in both science and culture.
But to be honest, when I first saw his collection,
I did not immediately recognize how extraordinary it was.
I went because my friend Melissa from Flushing
invited me.
That day, New York was covered in snow.
The entire city felt as if it had been paused.
And yet, I took an Uber—
$130 from my home in central New Jersey—
just to go.
On her dining table,
piece by piece,
lay two thousand years of history.
I was deeply moved.
I had studied literature—China, the West, ancient Egypt,
Persia—
but that day,
history became something I could actually touch.
That was just before Christmas last year.
In early January, we met again at our friend Daniel’s
restaurant, Fushimi, in Times Square.
That was the first time I saw this red bowl.
From the Yongzheng reign—
a dynasty that lasted only thirteen years,
yet left a profound mark on Chinese history.
That night, I could not sleep.
At 3:15 a.m., I sat up and wrote an article:
“The Blooming of Life — A Love Letter from Yongzheng
to the World.”
I sent it to my friends, including Michael Daley.
Within hours, I received a deeply emotional reply, and soon
the article was widely shared.
Because I suddenly understood—
What kept me awake
was not just an object.
It was a love letter.
An emperor leaving his emotions in time—
for the world,
for us.
At that moment, I also realized:
These antiques are the cultural DNA
behind today’s China—
high-speed rail, spacecraft, deep-sea exploration.
That bowl, and the flowers on it,
were fired at over 1200 degrees.
All our lives,
we keep moving forward,
rarely stopping.
Until I saw that bowl.
And I saw a door—
a door that allowed me
to see my life again,
and perhaps to imagine it differently.
At the end of January,
Mr. Ye, Dr. Olympia Gellini, and I traveled to the
Middle East.
There, we saw another possibility—
the connection between culture and capital.
That is a story Mr. Ye will share.
But I want to end with something more personal.
Last May, my body collapsed.
At Penn Station,
waiting for a train to Princeton,
I suddenly could not move.
My heart function dropped
from 60% to below 20%.
At any moment, it could have stopped.
My immune system collapsed.
I spent eight months in bed.
Today, my heart has recovered to 48%.
From 45% in January
to 48% just days ago—
Just a 3% increase…
But that 3% taught me something:
Happiness matters.
Happiness is the source of life.
Life responds to how we feel.
No wonder the American Bill of Rights speaks of:
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Sometimes we pause,
not to go back,
but to understand where we come from.
To reconnect with the roots of our culture—
so that it may illuminate the path ahead.
So today,
We are not only here to support Mr. Ye.
We are here because—
he has allowed culture
to move from the past
into our present lives.
And the recognition given by the New York State Legislature
is not only an honor—
It is a statement:
To support culture,
to support creation,
and to support genuine understanding and connection
between civilizations.
Thank you. |
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Red bowl. From the
Yongzheng reign |
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Shulian Liang,
Winner of Jeff Ye Precious collection of jade and teacup
raffle |
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Jeff Collection |
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Shulian
Liang, Honghong Xu. Dr Jeannie Yi, Su dong he |
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Jeff Collection |
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Selfie Corner |
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This opportunity will close on 04 30 2026 |
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Gerard Mc Keon,
MaryYang |
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Honghong Xu |
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Dr Jeannie Yi,
Winny Power, Gerard Mc Keon |
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Additional
Black Tie International Magazine Coverage
of Jeff Ye |
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www.blacktiemagazine.com
Refined by Fire: The Inner Journey of Jeff Ye
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Jeff
Ye, Master Collector of Chinese
Antiquities |
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Refined
by Fire:
The Inner Journey of Jeff Ye,
Master Collector of Chinese Antiquities
My life has been like a piece of
glazed glass,
sent again and again into the fire.
Jeff Ye
Report by: Dr. Jeannie Yi
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Click Here to view the video if your
browser is not displaying
the English and Chinese captions |
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At the beginning of 2026, a moment of
particular significance quietly took
place in New York, a city where art and
finance converge.
After years of anticipation
The International Institute of Art
Asset (IIAA)
was formally established.
Its importance reaches far beyond the
founding of another institution. For the
first time, a clear structural pathway
emerged for Eastern art to enter the
Western world—not merely as cultural
display, but as a system grounded in
valuation, legitimacy, and sustainable
commercial return. What had long existed
as aspiration was now becoming reality.
Throughout human history, the forms of
wealth have continuously transformed:
from gold and silver, to land, to
financial instruments, to luxury goods.
Yet among all these, only collecting
truly connects us to the roots of
civilization itself.
Collecting is often misunderstood as a
gesture of wealth or status. In truth,
it is an act of remembrance. Through
porcelain, jade, and bronze, we glimpse
the lives, values, and spirits of our
ancestors. Each artifact is not merely
an object, but a living fragment of
time.
Sitting across from me during this
interview was Jeff Ye, one of the
five co-founders of the International
Institute of Art Asset and the director
responsible for its antique and museum
collections.
In his hands, he held a remarkable
imperial
“Dragon Plate,”
inscribed with the phrase
“Mandated by Heaven.”
The object was overwhelming in its
presence.
This was not possession in the ordinary
sense. It was guardianship.
Jeff Ye owns thousands of such
treasures. His collecting journey has
taken him across China, from academic
research to remote regions, from
established markets to newly discovered
sites. Whenever news surfaced of an
unearthed artifact, he would go—without
hesitation.
What he collects is not defined by
money, but by responsibility.
Responsibility to history.
Responsibility to civilization.
This is where collecting transcends
wealth
and becomes a form of cultural
stewardship.
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The glazed glass of the Spring and
Autumn and Warring States periods is
breathtaking in both color and form.
Perfectly round, crowned with a dragon,
it carries a blessing: auspiciousness,
peace, and harmony.
It is, in essence, China’s gift to the
world.
And it is also the spiritual origin of
the Art Asset Institute—
the mission of the descendants of the
dragon:
to protect, transmit, and honor
civilization.
For Jeff Ye, collecting has never
been defined by money.
It is defined by whether one is willing
to bear responsibility for civilization
itself.
When the Rockefeller family and the
Rockefeller Foundation traveled
repeatedly to China, they were certainly
not seeking oil deals or architectural
investments. They were searching for
treasures like those now resting on Jeff
Ye’s table—fragments of history that
allow future generations to see, with
their own eyes,
stories that began thousands of years
ago.
If collecting carries a certain
aristocratic spirit,
then this spirit takes many forms.
In Jeff Ye’s “aesthetic style of
collecting,”
I saw not luxury, but guardianship.
A guardian who has spent more than
thirty years
preserving cultural memory.
While managing real estate development
projects, he carved out rare time to
enter China’s once chaotic antique
markets, patiently watching them evolve
into systems of order. Again and again,
he searched—sometimes close to home,
sometimes across great distances
—for artifacts that carried the breath
of history.
At first, like many collectors, his
questions were simple:
“Is it beautiful?”
“Is it valuable?”
But gradually, his questions became
deeper:
Where did it come from?
Does it align with historical logic?
Can it withstand scientific scrutiny?
He once asked me quietly,
“Can its materials, craftsmanship,
patina, oxidation, perforations, and
color transformation endure both
scientific testing
and experiential judgment?”
I had no answer.
Though my own family had passed down
certain “treasures” through generations,
they lay untouched in cabinets
—unpriced, unrecognized, untradeable.
Jeff Ye, trained in chemistry,
understood that intuition alone was not
enough.
For collectors and enthusiasts alike, he
developed a rigorous system:
a twenty-criteria methodology for jade
authentication that moves from instinct
to science—
now known as the “Ye Standard.”
He said:
“Forgery in antiques is actually a false
concept.
Only time leaves irreversible marks.
To claim something can be perfectly
forged
is to claim time itself can be reversed.
Anyone with basic logic knows this is
impossible.”
In Jeff Ye’s system, the first judgment
is never data—it is breath.
Not reports, but whether the object
possesses a soul.
He believes in eye connection.
He believes in touch.
He believes in the intelligence stored
within the body
through years of experience.
For him, collecting is not ownership—it
is encounter.
A meeting between human and artifact,
guided by fate.
Much like love itself: different in
form, universal in essence.
That love pushed him to unite
aesthetics, history, chemistry,
microscopic observation, and instrument
testing.
To synchronize intuition with science.
In his world, collecting becomes a true
“cultural science”—
and an inheritance of love.
Not merely feeling,
but a civilization authentication
system.
From instinct and romance,
to verification and responsibility.
Like glazed glass itself,
his life has been shaped by fire—
again and again refined,
until clarity became light. |
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Additional Black Tie Featured Articles -
Jeff Ye |
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www.blacktiemagazine.com
Jeff Ye - From New York to the Desert of Gold |
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Jeff Ye,
Master Collector of Chinese Antiquities
From New York to the Desert of
Gold
A Journey Where Vision Found Its Geography
By Dr. Jeannie Yi |
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www.blacktiemagazine.com
Jeff Ye, World
Speakers Series, Trump Tower, NYC |
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Elvis Newman, Jeff Ye, World
Speakers Series, Trump Tower, NYC |
Jeff Ye, World
Speakers Series, Trump Tower, NYC
Love Letter to Life: Yongzheng and His Porcelain
When Civilization Blossomed Like a Flower
Report by: Dr. Jeannie Yi |
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www.blacktiemagazine.com
Jeff Ye:
The Man Who Put Time on the Table |
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Gerard Mc Keon,
Publisher, Black Tie International Magazine
Jeff Ye, Master Collector of Chinese Antiquities |
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Jeff Ye: The Man Who
Put Time on the Table
It began as a confrontation.
In the end, it became understanding.
Report by:
Dr. Jeannie Yi
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