In October, the Poplar forests of Korla at the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang are coated in the richest gold of the year. Nearly 400 owners, about 200 Defenders drove from all over the country to the same Gobi desert. The farthest one started from Ningbo, covered 4,200 kilometers, and drove for a full ten days.

This is Land Rover Defender's fourth year of the "Defender Reaches All Corners" national expedition. From 2023 Yunnan Shangri-La, 2024 Ningxia Zhongwei, 2025 Gansu Dunhuang, to 2026 Xinjiang Korla, one stop per year, progressively penetrating China's most remote, desolate, and magnificent corners year by year.

I am very fortunate to be a witness for consecutive years. There are many reasons to like the Defender, but the core point is, it is never swept up by the industry frenzy and involution, always upholding its own unique brand faith. For so many years, the Defender has persisted in the most simple and extravagant thing: going to distant places no one else has explored, undertaking expeditions others dare not make.

That Foot on the Accelerator 78 Years Ago Was Never Released

Let's rewind time to 1955. That year, six students from Oxford University and Cambridge University did something that seemed nearly crazy at the time: driving two Land Rover Series I vehicles, departing from London, crossing Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and driving all the way to Singapore. The full distance was 18,000 miles, approximately 29,000 kilometers, taking six months. They crossed deserts unrecorded on maps, waded through swamps with no roads, and the two vehicles were painted Oxford Blue and Cambridge Light Blue respectively.

This expedition, later known as "The First Overland", made the world realize for the first time: a vehicle is not just a means of transport, it can be the sole reliance of an expedition team.

64 years later in 2019, "The Last Overland" expedition team drove the same 1955 Land Rover Series I vehicle, traveling backwards from Singapore back to London. That 64-year-old veteran vehicle traversed tropical rainforests, extreme weather at minus 20 degrees Celsius, and altitudes over 5,000 meters, finally crossing the finish line exactly the same as in 1955.

78 years have passed. From Series I to today's Defender OCTA, the engine changed, the platform changed, screens got bigger, but that "road" extending from London to Singapore, from Shangri-La to Korla, has never been broken.

"Defender Reaches All Corners" itself is the continuation of this adventurous spirit in contemporary China.

In 2023, the first season kicked off in Yunnan Shangri-La; in 2024, the second season, 130 Defenders assembled in Ningxia Zhongwei, completing a grand expedition in the "Capital of China's Deserts"; in 2025, the third season delved into Dunhuang, with 136 owners forming an expedition team to cross the cultural oasis on the Silk Road. And by 2026, Korla's deserts, rivers, oases, and the Lop Nur village constituted the "testing ground" of this season.

The route design of this season itself is an attitude. The convoy departed from Korla, diving straight into the Taklamakan Desert. Sand ridges followed one after another, gravel, steep slopes, shallow and deep sand pits, the Defender's All-Terrain system handled everything without a ripple. Then came the wading section, river water overflowing wheel arches, the front end firmly plunging into the river center, pushing a wall of water. The 900mm rated wading depth here is not just a parameter, it is the confidence to "dare to go, and also return".

More interestingly, on the banks of the Tarim River appeared a Defender towing a speedboat. The rugged off-road vehicle suddenly had a sailor side; the speedboat raced on the river, the Defender followed on the bank. This was not an official planned performance, but a gameplay brought by the owner themselves. In the Defender community, adventure is never defined.

A Moat Built by Time

These Defender owners who traveled from afar, thousands of li away, might be the most energetic and adventurous group of owners I have ever seen. These Defender cars, clad in various domineering and high-turnout paint jobs, drove from bustling cities to the Gobi desert. The farthest owner drove a full ten days from Ningbo to arrive.

"In the UK, you hardly see such a scale of crossing, from Scotland to England is also only a thousand kilometers," said Jaguar Land Rover China CEO Han Shao-Shuai when mentioning these Defender owners, who crossed mountains and rivers, traveling more than half of China to gather together. From never meeting to chatting happily, he couldn't help but express surprise, "Global Defender owners share many commonalities, but in China, this passion appears exceptionally special."

There is a Chinese saying - Passion can withstand ten thousand waters and thousands of mountains. This Chinese sentence, British Han Shao-Shuai might not necessarily understand, but he repeatedly stated that this is a car owner culture that is very hard to replicate in other markets.

If subculture is the Defender's most gentle and solid moat. Then technical accumulation is the Defender's hardest armor to guard this gentleness. This Korla expedition was the most real test of strength. More precious is, Defender's off-roading has no template, not defined.

The Chinese car market of 2026 is not easy for any traditional luxury brand. Local brands enter the rugged off-road track with "Boxy" shapes, screens getting bigger, parameters being rated higher, prices becoming more competitive.

Facing the topic of "imitation", Han Shao-Shuai's attitude was surprisingly calm: "Regarding imitation, I would regard it as a form of respect. All successful luxury brands will be imitated, I am actually worried about the day when no one imitates us."

His confidence comes from a simple fact: appearance can be copied, soul cannot. "You can copy an appearance, but you cannot copy a brand's soul. You cannot copy 78 years of historical heritage, cannot copy deep engineering accumulation, and even less can you copy the culture of the car owner community. We are the originators, we will continue to lead the way forward."

78 years of accumulated adventurous experience and brand heritage, is a moat built by time, no one can master it in two or three years.

On a strategic level, the keyword given by Han Shao-Shuai is "Double" - the more difficult the times, the more double effort must be exerted on core advantages. The company has focused on the luxury SUV market above 700,000 yuan. In the first half of 2026, the proportion of the three core models Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, and Defender in the company's China business rose to 92%, the average transaction price of imported vehicles reached 1.018 million yuan. Meanwhile, the "Land Rover Defender Urban Camp" in Shanghai West Bund is trying to reach urban people who may not think of Defender first, but also love originality and community culture.

When a brand passes 78 years, the temptations and noise it faces will be more than ever before. But the answer given by the Defender has always remained unchanged: go to places others haven't been, do things others haven't done, and guard who you are.

When the sunset of Korla falls on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, the headlights of two hundred Defenders light up in sequence, like a light strip extending from the depths of the Gobi. 78 years ago, when six university students departed from London, they probably never thought that their foot on the accelerator would, nearly eighty years later, bring a group of people to the desert in the westernmost end of China, watching the same sunset together.

This is the simplest look of adventurous faith: if the road is there, then go walk it. (Written by Wu Ma)

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."

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.

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.

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."

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."

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.

Over 70 years ago, six British youths drove two Land Rover Series I vehicles, completing the first London-to-Singapore Eurasian overland expedition in human history, traversing countless extreme terrains to forge a legendary adventure story.

Today, this epic model is displayed at the West Bund Star Art Museum in Shanghai, debuting at the Defender Urban Camping Space by the Huangpu River.

Living in the urban cage surrounded by towering buildings, modern people always hold the original intention to break free from mediocrity and rush into the mountains and wilderness, and this exhibition perfectly interprets: there is no boundary between city and wild; one Land Rover Defender can connect the urban hustle with the freedom of the wilderness.

With a century of heritage, the Defender possesses innate avant-garde aesthetics. The boxy shape of the first-generation model, forged in extreme exploration, abandons redundant decorations, forming a unique visual language with minimalist angles and rugged structures.

This native aesthetics born from pragmatism has remained enduring for decades. Amidst city traffic with similar designs, the highly recognizable boxy outline allows the Defender to escape urban aesthetic homogenization, becoming a concrete expression of the owner's unique taste.

Beneath the good-looking exterior lies hard-core wildness carved into the brand's genes. At the world's most rigorous Dakar Rally, the Land Rover Defender took all 14 stage championships on its debut. Relying on the OCTA octahedron high-strength body and SV-exclusive tuned 4.4T V8 powertrain, it possesses off-road capability to crush complex road conditions. Powerful performance is never limited to wilderness journeys; daily city driving is calm and stable, ready to rush to wilderness secrets at any time, using top-tier strength to back up the urbanite's distant ideals.

Beyond the sharp wildness lies the Land Rover brand's unchanging sense of responsibility. The Defender participated in "No Time to Die" with its fierce form, stunning the urban screen before its launch; the proceeds from the auction of the iconic VIN 007 prototype were entirely donated to the Red Cross. After years of deep cultivation in the Chinese market, the brand has invested over 50 million in public welfare projects such as adolescent vision care and rural education assistance, mobilizing owners to spread kindness. From an off-road tool conquering nature to a city sedan coexisting with goodness, the Defender has completed a dual evolution of product and value.

This urban camp along the West Bund waterfront condenses the Defender's century of exploration, championships, and humanistic original intentions. On the wilderness, people are addicted to its surging power galloping through mountains and rivers; in the city, one can better understand its core of accommodating daily life and distant ideals.

The city never stands opposed to the wilderness. Contemporary urban life needs a Defender like this: breaking secular mediocrity with classic aesthetics, defending the confidence of life with hard-core performance, and aligning with spiritual pursuit through a responsible perspective. Boundaries between city and wild do not exist, and the Defender is unstoppable; this is the ultimate answer to owning a Defender in the city.