"Jayden" Yuan Xiaochao (; born 7 August 1988) is a retired professional wushu taolu athlete and actor from China. He was a world champion in 2005 and 2007.

Career

Competitive wushu

Yuan started to practice martial arts in Songjiang Martial Arts School in 1998 and later joined the Shanxi Provincial Wushu Team. Yuan's international debut was at the

2005 East Asian Games The 4th East Asian Games was an international multi-sport event for countries in East Asia which was held in Macau from October 29 to November 6, 2005. Host city At the 11th EAGA Council Meeting held in Guam in March 1996, Macau, then a Portugues ...

where he won a bronze medal in changquan. He then appeared at the

2005 World Wushu Championships The 2005 World Wushu Championships was the 8th edition of the World Wushu Championships. It was held at the Quan Ngua Sports Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., ...

and was the world champion in changquan. Later in the year, he competed in the

2005 National Games of China The 10th National Games of the People's Republic of China was a multi-sport event that was held in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, from 12–23 October 2005. As a premier national sporting event, the 10th National Games of China, National Games o ...

and won the gold medal in men's daoshu and gunshu combined. Yuan then competed in the

2006 Asian Games 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

and won the gold medal in men's changquan all-around. He then was a world champion once again in changquan at the

2007 World Wushu Championships The 2007 World Wushu Championships was the 9th edition of the World Wushu Championships. It was held at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Beijing, China from November 11 to November 17, 2007. Nearly 1,000 athletes from 89 IWUF national fede ...

. This qualified him for the

2008 Beijing Wushu Tournament The 2008 Beijing Wushu Tournament (Chinese: 北京2008武术比赛; pinyin: ''Běijīng 2008 wǔshù bǐsài'') was a wushu competition which was held from August 21 to 24, 2008 at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Beijing, China. The tourn ...

where he won the gold medal in men's changquan. He won yet another gold medal in men's changquan at the

2009 World Games The 2009 World Games () the eighth edition of the World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (under the name Chinese Taipei) from 16 July 2009 to 26 July 2009. The games featured sports that are not contested i ...

. Yuan then competed in the

2009 National Games of China The 11th National Games of China were held in various cities in Shandong from October 16 to October 28, 2009. Represented were 33 sports, 43 disciplines and 362 events, including 4 winter sports which were held in Shenyang, Changchun and Qingdao b ...

and was a double silver medalist in changquan and daoshu/gunshu combined. His last international competition was at the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), was a regional multi-sport event celebrated from November 12 to November 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, although several events ...

where he won the gold medal in men's changquan.

Acting

After retiring from competitive wushu taolu, he adopted the first-name "Jayden." He starred in ''

Tai Chi 0 ''Tai Chi 1: 0'' (太極之零開始) or ''Tai Chi Zero'' (太極：從零開始) is a 2012 Chinese 3D martial arts film directed by Stephen Fung. It is a fictitious retelling of how the Chen style of the martial art t'ai chi ch'uan, that for ...

'' (2012) and its sequel ''

Tai Chi Hero ''Tai Chi Hero'' (太極２英雄崛起) is a 2012 Hong Kong-Chinese 3D martial arts film directed by Stephen Fung, written and produced by Chen Kuo-fu. It is the sequel to Fung's 2012 film '' Tai Chi Zero''. It was released in Hong Kong on 25 ...

'' (2012).

Personal life

Yuan's uncles include

Yuan Wenqing Yuan Wenqing (; born 1966) is a retired professional wushu taolu athlete from Shanxi, China. Nicknamed 'the prince of wushu,' he was known for his explosive speed and power, and is still widely regarded as one of the greatest wushu practitioner ...

and Yuan Xindong, both of which were also members of the Shanxi wushu team.

References

External links

*
Athlete Profile
at the