Deep in the Desert, Understanding the Defender | Qi Shi Travelogue

Qi Shi Auto-First | Sun Jinfeng from Korla

October in Southern Xinjiang is the most generous season of the year.

At the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, Korla is in its most beautiful season: Poplars are golden, fragrant pears are picked from trees, grapes, pomegranates, and red dates flood the markets, cotton fields are dazzlingly white, cattle and sheep fattened over the summer are plump...

Deserts, rivers, and oases intersect here. Remains of the Kingdom of Loulan still stand in the wind and sand hundreds of li away. The camel bells of the Silk Road seem not to have faded far. When the summer heat fades, the wind here becomes gentle.

From October 9th to 11th, the 4th season of the "Defenders from All Directions" Land Rover Defender Conference was held here. Nearly 400 owners and about 200 Defenders came from all over the country. The furthest came from Ningbo, 4,200 km, driving for a full 10 days.

This owner's story was repeatedly mentioned by Jaguar Land Rover China CEO Han Xiaoshuai (Tim Howard). He said, in the UK, the distance from Scotland to England is no more than 1,000 km. The distance and perseverance Chinese owners travel for their passion are "truly amazing".

Why is it worth running so far? His answer, and Korla's answer: "We like to go to places others have never visited, to do something unique. Because the Defender itself is unique — we are born to lead, not to follow."

The Test of Sand and Water

This season's Defender Conference, people from all directions embarked on, is an adventure journey in the desert wilderness. The word "Adventure", for the Defender, is a road ground inch by inch under the wheels over 78 years.

Not long after the convoy set off, the Taklamakan put the test right before them. The convoy hanging numbers and inserting team flags lined up in a long queue on the Gobi. Yu A, Jing A, Ji B... license plates from every corner of the country, now crushing the same tracks.

Sand ridges followed by ridges. Wheels tear open the loose sand surface, golden sand waves rise high on both sides of the body, tail flags appear and disappear in the sand fog. Gravel, steep slopes, deep and shallow sand pits, and withered but standing Poplars by the roadside. The Defender's All-Terrain System handles everything without a ripple. A media colleague who traveled with them drove in the desert for the first time. Initially holding the steering wheel tight with both hands, he was reluctant to let go after one lap. Beyond the All-Terrain system, what a car truly gives is the confidence that "everything is under control".

The real hard fight is in the water. The river channel is turbid yellow, swirling water overflows the wheel arches. The front end steadily plunges into the river center, pushes aside a water wall, then climbs the opposite bank without a ripple. 900mm — this is the Defender's rated wading depth, also an invisible chasm between it and most "box-style SUVs" on the market. Appearance can be imitated, the confidence for wading cannot be imitated.

What does this number mean to people who truly go adventuring? It means when you go deep into the wilderness, a river blocks the way, others have to turn around and detour tens of kilometers, you just drive over steadily. It means heavy rain waterlogging and riverbed hidden pits are no longer the end of the journey. It is not a parameter, but a guarantee of "dare to go, and able to return".

There is more than one way to adventure. By the Tarim River, a Defender towing a speedboat passed along the river, a hard-core off-roader suddenly showed a sailor side. When the speedboat speeds across the Tarim River, the Defender brings you an experience beyond just the car.

The Sun of the Lop Nur People

At the end of the sand sea, is another Xinjiang.

The Lop Nur Village is hidden between the desert and the oasis. This ancient people "living by the water", fishing in the desert, living beside Poplar forests, coexisting with the harshest environment for thousands of years.

Fishing in the desert sounds like a fantasy, but it is the livelihood of the Lop Nur people for centuries. In the village, an elder Lop Nur person demonstrated the oldest survival way of this ethnic group: The small boat underfoot is made by hollowing out the heart of a century-old Poplar wood. The elder stands in the center of the boat, holding an iron fork, and in no time catches a big fish with extremely agile hand-eye coordination. Desert edge, Poplar small boat, a fish fork — three seemingly unrelated scenes, pieced together, is the survival history of the Lop Nur people written on the Tarim River.

In the village, we also met an 110-year-old elder. Surprisingly, he looks much younger than his actual age, completely unlike someone over 100. Asked about the secret to longevity, the answer is surprisingly simple: Keep a good mood, love eating mutton, love drinking milk.

Before the unique Reed Painting of the Lop Nur people, the inheritor told us: The Sun is the totem of the Lop Nur people. Making a living in the place with the strongest sunlight, yet keeping the Sun in the heart, this is probably the romance of the Lop Nur people. Everyone sat down, each making a Reed Painting with a Sun pattern, it felt wonderful.

Ride a camel again deeper into the dunes, the camel bells sway, in a daze there is an illusion: The merchants walking the Silk Road two thousand years ago probably saw the same sunset.

People Protecting the Poplar Trees

The Lop Nur people's philosophy of survival is written on the Poplar trees.

Locals say, Poplars do not die for 1000 years, do not fall for 1000 years, do not decay for 1000 years. Most plants of the Taklamakan cannot survive the "Death Line", only Poplars root in places where no grass grows. This season's charity theme is exactly protecting the Poplar trees. Owners bent down, experiencing the local unique sand control "Straw Checkerboard": Bundles of wheat straw are inserted into the sand, connected into squares, to lock the moving dunes. The method is so simple it's almost primitive, but it's wisdom guarded by generations.

Charity is one of the important themes of past "Defender Conferences". This activity, besides protecting the Poplar forest, a Defender owner, a famous wildlife photographer, told everyone about his years of experience shooting and protecting wildlife, and hopes more Defender owners join in. In front of the charity shop, the team supporting the Jaguar Land Rover Youth Dream Fund is lined up very long — this scene was later mentioned by Han Xiaoshuai specifically: "The Defender not only takes us to far places, but also lets us do meaningful things together."

78 Years Illuminated by Bonfires

At night, the vast Gobi darkens completely, but the camp lights up into a city that never sleeps. On top of the white big tents, the mountain-shaped light sign of "Defenders from All Directions" emits warm light. Clusters of bonfires jump in the middle of the crowd, string lights flow along the wooden fence. Images of the Defender climbing mountains and crossing water are playing on the large screen. Defenders from all over the country stopped inside and outside the camp, among them two were specially transported for owners by Jaguar Land Rover.

One is the "Oxford" with license plate SNX 891. In 1955, six Oxford and Cambridge graduates drove it from London, lasting 6 months and 6 days, crossing 17 countries, completing the first expedition in human history to drive from London to Singapore. The other is a DAKAR D7X-R racing car modified by Defender OCTA. In early this year, for the first time in the Dakar Rally, it swept the champion and runner-up of the production group. Two Defenders, one full of legend, one full of victory.

The food that night also had local specialties: Lop Nur sheep willow skewers, cold tossed Qiamagu, as well as milk beer and hot pot. Everyone gathered around the bonfire talking about cars, roads, and their own lives, just like a large family reunion.

When talking about the increasing number of "box-style SUVs" on the market, Han Xiaoshuai's answer was very confident: "All successful luxury brands will be imitated, I am rather worried about the day when no one imitates us. You can copy a shape, but you cannot copy the soul of a brand."

Indeed, the Defender's 78-year history, generations of accumulated expedition experience, irreplaceable owner community, this is something no brand can achieve quickly in two or three years.

As for the core of the Defender spirit, Han Xiaoshuai thought for a moment, gave a word: Unstoppable (Unstoppable). "The market is always ups and downs, but you must persist in being yourself. The reason the Defender stands tall after 78 years is this."

Defenders from All Directions, See You Next Year

From 2023's Southern Clouds Shangri-La, 2024's Capital of Desert Zhongwei, 2025's Holy Land of Western Regions Dunhuang, to 2026's Korla, Xinjiang — Defender Conference stops one place a year, upgrading year by year. "Defenders from All Directions" has grown from an owner gathering to an iconic owner IP in the luxury off-road vehicle field.

Four years ago, the Defender gathered the owners; four years later, the owners voluntarily cross thousands of kilometers, coming back time and time again. The most precious thing a brand can own, probably is not being remembered, but being chosen, being loved, being treated as "one of us".

It's late night, people raise glasses around the bonfire. Some make an appointment by the car: Next year, next stop, see you again.