[7] In the late stage of the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, after middle school, Long was exiled as "Sent-down youth" to a poor mountainous area in southern Sichuan.

[8][9] Long studied in Sichuan Agricultural university and earned a baccalaureate in agronomy in 1982 and a master's degree in plant genetics and breeding in 1985, mentored by Zhiren Gao, a population geneticist trained by C.C.

[11] Long worked as postdoctoral fellow in Harvard University to research molecular biology and population genetics with Walter Gilbert and Richard Lewontin.

Long and coworkers have investigated molecular mechanisms, rates, and patterns of new gene origination in species ranging from fruit flies[24][25][26] to insects,[27] humans,[28] vertebrates,[29][20] and plants.

[50] Long and his teams have published 180 research reports, reviews, commentaries and popular science articles on origination and evolution of new genes with their newly derived functions and phenotypes.

[54] The new gene studies summarized by Long[19] were presented in the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District and elsewhere in defense of the First Amendment to U.S. Constitution[55][56][57] and the evolutionary biology.