Xiaodeng Island, also known as Xiaodeng or Xiaodengbao in ancient times, is a bedrock island located in the southern part of Xiang'an, Xiamen Bay. It covers an area of approximately 0.9671 square kilometers and has an altitude of 28 meters. As of 2008, the population of the island was about 3,000 people. The island was originally located in Kinmen County, Fuchien Province, Republic of China (ROC). After being occupied by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), it was included in Dadeng Subdistrict, Xiang'an District, Xiamen, Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. There is currently a Xiaodeng Neighborhood Committee, which governs two natural villages, Qianbao and Houbao. However, the ROC considers this island to be a peripheral island of its Kinmen County, just as it considered itself in charge of the villages. The island has complete facilities, with a bridge leading to Dadeng Island and mainland China. However, due to the construction of Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport, the overall facilities on the island will be demolished and relocated.
Xiaodeng Island is rich in seafood, with specialties such as Xiaodeng seaweed and Xiaodeng oysters. There are multiple tourist attractions on the island, and the tourism industry is thriving. Xiaodeng has a long history, starting with the Tang dynasty founded by Hong Dao, the founder of the Hong clan in Xiaodeng. Qiu Kui, a Neo-Confucianism scholar of the Song and Yuan dynasties, was born on the island and later lived there in seclusion; it is also said that the last emperor of the Song dynasty, Zhao Bing, lived on the island when he fled south. Xiaodeng Island also experienced the artillery battle of "August 23" during the shelling of Kinmen, and is known as the "Three Heroic Islands" together with Dadeng Island and Jiaoyu Island.
History Hong Dao, the ancestor of the Hong clan of Xiaodeng, lived in seclusion on Xiaodeng Island in 1140 and created the name of Dadeng Mountain, which is interpreted as "Dadeng is to fight to be straight up without any hesitation of strategy and foot; the mountain is to be the real accumulation of Taojun and creation", from which the name of Xiaodeng Island comes.
During the Song dynasty, it was rumored that the last emperor, Zhao Bing, lived on Xiaodeng Island during his escape. Due to the delicious taste of the local ostreidae and the fact that they have two more gills than the ordinary oysters, he gave them the name "July Pearl Oysters".
When the Wokou invaded during the Ming dynasty, they plundered and killed the residents of Xiaodeng Island in the second year of Hongwu (1369) and the twenty-fifth year of Jiajing (1546).
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Xiaodeng Island was bombed and shelled by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces many times. It often dispatched steamboats to strafe fishermen and villages. In 1938, a 45-member anti-Japanese self-defense group was organized in Xiaodeng Island, and on February 22, 1940, Japanese planes bombed Xiaodeng Island, killing 6 and injuring 4 and collapsing 35 houses. On March 30 of that year, it was bombed again, causing 19 deaths and 8 injuries and the destruction of 50 houses.
At the end of the Chinese Communist Revolution, the battle of Dadeng Island north of Kinmen broke out on October 9, 1949, and Dadeng Island was captured on the 10th. On the 11th, the 851st Regiment of the 84th Division of the 28th People's Liberation Army occupied Xiaodeng Island. In the 1950s and 1970s, high-pitched speakers were installed on Xiaodeng Island, which was used for mainland propaganda against Kinmen. After the Chinese Civil War, Xiaodeng Island was bombed by the Republic of China Air Force on September 22, 1954, because it was near Kinmen. The village on the island was flattened in the artillery battle of "August 23rd" in 1958, killing 34 people. After that, 9 people from the Xiaodeng Island militia battalion were awarded second-class merit and 54 people were awarded third-class merit by the Chinese PLA, and the island was also called "Three Heroic Islands" together with Dadeng and Jiaoyu islands.
District history During the Qing dynasty, Xiaodeng Island belonged to Xiaodeng Fort in Xiangfengli, Tongan County, Quanzhou Province. During the Republican period, it belonged to Siming County in 1912 and to Dadong Township, Kinmen County in 1914. After being occupied by the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1949, it was transferred to Xiaodeng Township in Dadeng District, Nan'an County, Quanzhou City in 1950. In 1958, it belonged to Haiyan Brigade, and in 1965, it was renamed Xiaodeng Brigade and belonged to Dadeng Subdistrict. In 1971, it was returned to Tongan County, and in 1984, it belonged to Dadeng Township and was renamed Xiaodeng Village Committee, with two natural villages under its jurisdiction: Qianbao and Houbao. In 1991, it belonged to Dadeng town, in 2003, it belonged to Xiang'an district, in 2005 it was established as Xiaodeng Community Residents' Committee and belonged to Dadeng Street of Xiang'an District. In 2007, Xiaodeng community was also awarded as "the most beautiful village" in Xiamen. The code of the island in mainland China is 350212000411.
Historical figures Multiple historical figures have appeared on Xiaodeng Island:
Qiu Kui: A scholar of Neo-Confucianism during the Song–Yuan dynasties, born on Xiaodeng Island. After living most of his life in seclusion on Xiaodeng Island, he inherited Zhu Xi's doctrine of science. He has made great achievements and has lectured at the Golden Gate, and has had a great influence on the education of the Jinmin. Hong Shunli: A militia hero, he has chased the secret service many times, visited Vietnam and met Mao Zedong 8 times. Hong Xiu-fir: Militia hero, the prototype of Haixia in the feature film "Haixia", known as "the contemporary Mu Guiying." He was the mayor of Xiaodeng Township during the artillery battle of "August 23rd" and organized the transportation of ammunition, which was later praised by Zhou Enlai.
Environment
Geography Xiaodeng Island is located in Xiamen Bay, approximately 1.4 kilometers northwest of the land, and faces Kinmen across the sea in the south. The island is east–west oriented and resembles a Sleeping Beauty reclining in the blue waves. It covers an area of about 0.9671 square kilometers, has a coastline of about 5.8 kilometers, and the surrounding water depth is 0.2 to 2.7 meters. The topography is high in the east and low in the west, the highest point is Xiyuewei with an altitude of 28 meters.One said 30.7 meters above sea level。 The northeast side is a steep cliff and the southwest has a slower shore beach; the coastal coast is mainly an earthen cliff, with local bedrock coast, as well as marine erosion cliffs, caves, and gullies.
The geology of the island is similar to Dadeng Island, and it is a bedrock island. The island is located in the Chengbian-Baogai Mountain dynamic metamorphic mixed granite zone near Changle-Nan'ao large fault zone, and the rocks composing the island are Yanshanian igneous rock, with hard bedrock exposed on the north and south-east edges of the island. The engineering geological zoning of the island belongs to the tectonic denudation of bedrock exposed remnant mound subzone; the rest of the area is mostly covered by granite weathering remnants, which belongs to the remnant cover terrace subzone; the mud flats around the island belong to the near-shore intertidal diffuse beach subzone. There is Houbao depression on the island, which is an erosion depression and belongs to the loose rock pore water group, and is a marine accumulation formation.
The intertidal zone of the island is about 3.23 square kilometers, divided into two kinds of rocky beaches and sandy beaches, and the latter is mainly distributed in the south, north, and west of the island, while the former is mainly distributed in the east.
Meteorology Xiamen Bay, where Xiaodeng Island is located, has a subtropical maritime climate with an average annual temperature of 21.2 degrees Celsius, 1,853.1 hours of sunshine, 1,374.8 mm of precipitation, 77% of humidity, 2.8 meters per second of wind speed. The climate is warm and hot with moderate humidity. The region has a variable spring climate with many rainy days; a hot summer with high humidity and many typhoons; a dry autumn with little rain; and a dry and cold winter without severe cold. The average annual temperature on the island is 20.9 degrees Celsius, with an average temperature of 13 degrees Celsius in January and 28.2 degrees Celsius in July, with an annual precipitation of 1,059.8 mm.
Hydrology
Xiamen Bay, where Xiaodeng Island is located, is controlled by the tidal wave system of Taiwan Strait and is a resonant tide. According to the data obtained from the survey before the construction of the bridge to Dadeng Island in 2022, the sea tide around the island belongs to the regular half-day tide, and the actual measured maximum up and down tide speed on the north channel of Xiaodeng Island is 56, 76 cm per second, and the average flow speed of the vertical up and down tide is 47, 71 cm per second.
Culture Xiaodeng Island has a deeper Xianan culture with a unique Hokkien culture style and fishing village culture. The island also has a war culture due to the "August 23rd" artillery battle, and there are many war relics left.
Cultural monuments After the death of the Southern Song dynasty, Qiu Kui lived on the island for a long time and left inscribed couplets on Xiaodeng Island such as Chess Game Stone, Fishing Islet Stone, and Le Qiu Stone. The chess game stone is located under the island's tiger halt, more than two feet in length and width, engraved with the words "Ten thousand machines molecular road, a game of smiling back", only "Ten thousand machines divided back" can be identified. A Mazu temple was built on Xiaodeng Island in the Yuan dynasty, which is the earliest Mazu temple in Xiamen and believes in Mazu culture; after the artillery battle of "August 23", there were buildings and relics left on the island such as human defense tunnels, artillery battle sites, and bunkers.
Ancient poems and proverbs Zhou Taichu of the Yuan dynasty wrote a poem about Xiaodeng Island, "The boat looks at Xiaodeng Island", which says: "There are homes in the green banyan bushes in the light cloudy mountains and fine sand. Where do the preachers return to?"A work called "Qishi Yuji Zao Mu Ya", "Qi" is a variant Chinese character.
In the 18th year of the Daoguang Qing dynasty (1838), King Shang Yu of Ryukyu ascended to the throne, and Daoguang Emperor appointed Lin Hongnian, the cultivator of Hanlin Academy, as the main envoy and Gao Renjian, the editor of Hanlin Academy, as the deputy envoy to the Ryukyu Islands, starting from Xiaodeng Island. Besides, there are some fishing proverbs in Xiaodeng Island, such as: "Qingming xie, Guyu hou", which says that sea crabs and sea horseshoe crabs will migrate to the vicinity of Xiaodeng Island during Qingming and Guyu seasons respectively. "Xiaoshu dagan, Dashu dagan", which says that Dashu and Xiaoshu is the time when horseshoe crabs come and will go to catch the sea.
Folk events Every year, on the 12th day of the 4th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, Xiaodeng Island holds the ceremony of the "Horseshoe Crab Festival" to welcome the arrival of horseshoe crabs. Fishermen prepare rich dishes on the front reef near the island and burn incense and worship the horseshoe crabs on one of the reefs called "Burning Gold Reef". There is also the traditional folk activity of tug of war. Before liberation, there was the tradition of holding a tug of war on Xiaodeng Island every year during the Spring Festival and it has continued to this day, and then it became a folk activity in the whole territory of Xiangan District.
Island construction