A native of the Shandong province, Yu was once the champion of Qingdao's martial arts Olympics. He had spent 14 years painstakingly recreated the "Two-handed Sword" moves, known to be extinct since the Han and Tang dynasties. It is now recognized as an official category in martial arts competitions.
Yu was later discovered by director Zhang Xinyan of Great Wall Pictures, who cast him as the villain in The Shaolin Temple and stirred up quite a sensation in the Chinese cinema. Yu then starred in various films including Kids From Shaolin and Martial Arts Of Shaolin. He took on the task of action choreographer for the film Heroes Returning to the East and was awarded the "Star of Martial Arts" kudos by the Chinese Wushu Association in 1998, for his unique achievements in the martial arts presentation on film and TV.
Yu has recently turned his attention to TV, where he starred in various hugely popular costume serials such as Sun Zi, Wu Song and Xiao Ao Jiang Hu.
