What is Changquan/Long Fist?

Changquan, or Long Fist, can refer to a number of kung fu styles stemming from the 10th century Song dynasty, although today we will be talking about its modern form in wushu. This modern iteration comes from mainland China, where government officials took inspiration from historical changquan styles. If you are interested in a short summary of contemporary wushu history, check out this article. Modern day changquan taolu consists of many large and extended body movements as well as many jumps. Movements look flashy and each combo connects smoothly with the next. The acrobatics difficulty has been upped again and again in wushu again and again, with today’s modern flips being especially impressive to watch. The movements and flips can be compared to gymnastics, but the taolu still contain many traditional movements with long histories. Here's a clip of Sun Peiyuan, one of the most dominant wushu athletes in the last decade, performing his changquan routine.