Xiao Yu: The off-road maverick

Xiao Yu (肖雨) runs the SUV off-roading club “The Horseback Folks”(馬幫)， which operates through a forum on the massive Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) bulletin board FBLIFE.com. Members range from simple travelers to professional racers， but all are united by a love for off-road driving that has taken them to some of the most remote， undeveloped parts of China. In addition to stunning scenery， they have also witnessed incredible poverty， inspiring the group to establish their own charity.

Our group came together because when we go off-roading， we break a lot of cars. We set up the forum to unite owners of similar cars and share details of how to fix them. We soon discovered that we all shared a passion for off-roading. I guess it’s only natural， as it’s hard to break an SUV if you only drive in cities.

As we got to know each other， we began taking group trips. These gathered momentum until we started holding national events with teams of more than 100 cars. Last week we spent three days touring the deserts of Inner Mongolia， camping for two nights under the stars. Experienced drivers always lead the team， as they know how to deal with difficult roads and breakdowns.

SUV driving has taken us to many remote areas we’d never normally experience. We’ve seen a lot of poverty， and this motivated us to independently establish a charity. Now we have charity projects countrywide. Of course， this is more easily done because our members are financially capable of helping others.

Over time our system has become well organized， and we make sure it’s effective. For example， we are sponsoring some students in Yunnan. We pay for their food and board， but we don’t give them money to ensure the parents don’t spend it on gambling or anything else. It may sound harsh， but according to our experience， it’s a common theme in the countryside. We have to guard against it.

The 428 Qinghai-Tibet SUV Rally Race is a major event that takes place on April 28 every year and lasts two weeks. It’s a crosscountry race at an altitude of 5，000 meters in Tibet. As a lover of both SUVs and photography， I’ve been invited to shoot the event for three years， though actually I get altitude sickness. I have to get there three days in advance so I have time to adjust. Shooting the race is also very physically challenging. Every time I return， I’m at least 10 pounds lighter. It’s something you wouldn’t do without a passion for it.

Driving has taken me to places that are nearly impossible to reach by other means， and shown me things I could not have experienced elsewhere. I’ve photographed the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai Province， a place so inhospitable no living thing can survive independently. No grass， no insects， no animals， no food chain. It’s like the surface of the moon. Yet it’s also called “the treasure basin，” because it’s rich in oil and other mineral resources. So even in Qaidam there are plants， workers and towns. There you can see humanity’s capacity to endure hardship tested to the extreme.

My contact with the countryside has also shown me how China has changed. It’s often said that in China， the cities are exploiting rural areas， but I see it differently， and I don’t think the intellectuals who issued that verdict really know what they’re talking about.

Take a village on Dabieshan Mountain (大別山) for example. It’s one of China’s most impoverished areas. When I went there in the 1970s， a family of four had only one pair of pants， which they shared when any of them went out. In the 1980s， each family member at least had their own pair of pants. When I went there recently， I noticed that everyone has at least two pairs. A more telling detail is that they now wear underpants too—in the past， they couldn’t afford it. Therefore， I don’t buy what scholars say—if you want to know about what’s happening in China， you’d better go there and check it out for yourself， and the best way to do that is to drive.