"Why Do Wushu People Swing/Wave/Flail Their Arms Around?" - Wushu Wheel Arms

UMBC Wushu Club Coach Matt Lee teaches the wheel arms technique in modern Wushu.
The wheel arms are a common technique in the style of modern Wushu Changquan (Long Fist). The large, theatrical movements of the arms have a very dramatic appearance and lend themselves to the obvious performance value of modern Wushu Taolu. Many people see these movements and only believe that Wushu movement, techniques and practice are only trained for performance, with no actual martial content or application. However, many basic movements and techniques in modern Wushu come from actual traditional, Chinese martial arts styles; this particular movement comes from the wulongpanda technique of Piguaquan/Piguazhang, and clearly has martial content/application in the loose, fluid and elastic quality of the movement.