Changquan (Traditional Long Fist)
長拳A family of northern Chinese styles with long reach, high kicks and deep stances — not a single style. The modern competition version dates from the 1950s.
Quick Facts
ChinaCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Changquan (Traditional Long Fist)
About Changquan (Traditional Long Fist)
Changquan, or long fist, is not one style but a whole family of northern Chinese schools, and it is worth knowing that before hunting for the "true" lineage. It includes chaquan, huaquan, paoquan and hongquan among others; what unites them is the extended arm, long reach, high and jumping kicks and deep low stances. Tradition derives the name from Zhao Kuangyin, founder of the Song dynasty, to whom the taizu changquan set is attributed; this lineage cannot be documented and is more a legitimising story of the kind many Chinese schools have. Technically, long fist is recognisable by the openness of its movement: the arms extend fully, the body lengthens, transitions between stances are long, and the forms contain jumps and turns in the air. **Beware a confusion.** Alongside traditional changquan there is modern competition changquan, compiled in the 1950s by the Chinese sports authorities as a unified event of sport wushu. That one is acrobatic, scored on the difficulty of its elements, and shares only a vocabulary of movement with the traditional lineages. Anyone looking for combat content has to go to the traditional schools.
Styles & Branches
A Shandong long-fist style tied to Chinese Muslims. Long reach, acrobatics, and ten rows of tantui kicks as the foundation of power.
A northern Chinese long-fist style built on three qualities: spirit, breath, and internal power. Today a core part of competitive changquan.
Traditional Northern Chinese kung fu style characterized by explosive direct cannon strikes.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.