Xiaodeng Island

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.[10]^: 770 In 2007, Xiaodeng community was also awarded as "the most beautiful village" in Xiamen. The code of the island in mainland China is 350212000411.[3]^{: 348–349}[7]

Historical figures

Multiple historical figures have appeared on Xiaodeng Island:[3]^{: 350–351}[10]^{: 869–901}

• 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,[11] 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.[12]

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.[8] 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.[13] The topography is high in the east and low in the west, the highest point is Xiyuewei with an altitude of 28 meters.[Note 1] 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.[3]^{: 340–341}[14]^: 1492

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.[3]^{: 338–339}

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.[3]^{: 348, 353–355}

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.[3]^{: 143–144} 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.[13]

Hydrology

Xiamen Bay, where Xiaodeng Island is located, is controlled by the tidal wave system of Taiwan Strait and is a resonant tide.[3]^: 147 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.[15]^: 6–7

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.[8] 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.[2]^: 114 A Mazu Temple was built on Xiaodeng Island in 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.[3]^: 351[10]^{: 833–834}

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?"[Note 2][10]^: 643

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.[16] 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.[17]

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".[17] 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.[10]^: 701

Transportation

Electricity

At the beginning of Xiaodeng Island, diesel generatorss were used to generate electricity. In 1988, Dadeng Township Government invested RMB710,000 to build a submarine communication cable to Dadeng Island, which was completed on August 25 of the same year and connected to a 35kV Dadeng substation to the Xiamen power grid, in 2009, additional submarine cable was installed.[3]^: 353[10]^: 132[28][29] In 2014,[30] a new floating wave energy generation device developed by Jimei University was built in the sea of Dadeng Island,[31] and the maximum power generation was 3.6 kilowatts. When Xi Jinping researched Xiaodeng Island in 2017, he also requested support for projects such as power generation on Xiaodeng Island by making project allocations.[32]

Water Resources

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty,[3]^: 352 water was taken from Xiaodeng Island through a 5-foot deep well named "Beauty Well",[10]^: 832 and after the 1990s, a new submarine water pipeline was built from Dadeng Island to Xiaodeng Island.[33] On April 12, 1991, the water was connected to the tap,[10]^{: 438–442} and then the island built a solar-wind desalination unit in 2016,[3]^: 352 producing 100 tons of tap water per day.[34] There were also breakwaters around the island, initially 1,115 meters long on the south and north sides only, and 1,800 meters long in 1987 due to the construction of the salt farm.[35] However, it was damaged by Typhoon (Dane) in 1999 and rebuilt in 2003, and safety improvements were made in 2019.[35] Now there are wave protection dikes on the seaside, and the waterfront is a stone-piled wave protection wall, and the inner side is a loose artificially excavated breeding pond. There is also a channel area on the northwest side of Xiaodeng Island, 4 to 12 meters deep and in 2006, the tide level wave measurement system was installed in the sea of Xiaodeng Island.[10]^: 404

Telecommunications

Before 1971, a wired broadcasting station was built in Xiaodeng Island and a small number of tweeters were installed. In August 1974, the broadcasting station was expanded into a front broadcasting station in Xiaodeng Island and put into use in May of the following year, equipped with 1 set of 175 types 5 horsepower generator set, 2 sets of 250-watt amplifiers, 1 set each of receiver and recorder, 2 highways of broadcasting lines were set up, 8 tweeters were installed and operated for 11 years, during which the lines were expanded to 48.6 highways. 80 tweeters, broadcasting 5 times a day for a total of about 10 hours.[3]^{: 352–353}

In March 1979, the submarine communication fiber optic cable was built with Dadeng Island, and the switchboard telephone was opened; in December 1992, the program-controlled telephone was opened; in May 1995, the mobile phone was opened; in 2008, the cable television was opened with the project of Xiamen Radio and Television Village Access.[3]^{: 352–353}

Other Infrastructure

• Firefighting: initially, the nearest fire station to Xiaodeng Island is Xindian Fire Squadron, which is 21  km away and can be reached only by waterway. Alerted by the serious loss of the fire in Yingling Temple of Xiaodeng in August 2008, Xiaodeng Island established Xiaodeng Community Volunteer Fire Brigade after the Spring Festival in 2010, which is the first island community fire department in Xiamen, and upgraded to be formed as Xiaodeng Community Micro Fire Station in 2016, and fire trucks can also enter the island through this bridge after the temporary steel trestle bridge is built.[21][36]
• Education: there is Xiaodeng elementary school on Xiaodeng Island, formerly named Dadengjiang elementary school, which was founded in 1937. In 1997, the area of the elementary school was 6,437 square meters, including 1,236 square meters of the school building, with 7 classes, 269 students, and 10 employees; in 2007, the area of the elementary school was 7,563 square meters, including 1,628 square meters of the school building, with 6 classes, 168 students, 12 employees, and 49 computers.[25]^{: 1051–1060}[10]^: 588
• Environment: The garbage on Xiaodeng Island was originally landfilled or transported out of the island. In 2007, there were 7 cleaners and 4 garbage trucks on the island, then 12-year-old student Qiu Naiqin wrote a letter to the then mayor of Xiamen, Liu Cigui, about environmental problems, that is, 20 garbage houses were built on the island in October of that year, 100 garbage cans and 1 three-wheeled garbage truck were added.[3]^: 353[37]
• Medical treatment: In 2005, a health clinic was built on Xiaodeng Island for full-time doctors.[10]^: 198
• Funeral: In 1995, public welfare cemetery was implemented in Xiaodeng Island, and crematoriums and cremation rooms were built and cremation was implemented in May 2004.[10]^: 346

Water Resources

There is a spring on Xiaodeng Island, but it is called Pin Quan, commonly known as the immortal well, named because the three stones seeping out of the spring are like the word "Pin", and it is gone at high tide and clear at low tide.[2]^: 391[3]^: 352

Mineral salt industry

There are mainly minerals such as potassium feldspar, construction sand, and other rich salt resources in Xiaodeng Island, which was surrounded by the sea in 1970 to build the salt field and was under the jurisdiction of Dadeng.[10]^{: 79, 438–442}[13]

Agriculture

As of 2001, there are about 100 mu of arable land on Xiaodeng Island, which is planted with dry crops such as sweet potatoes.[13]

Fishermen at work in Xiaodeng Island, taken in 2014

Animal Resources

There are heron breeding sites on Xiaodeng Island, which is located in the middle and south of the island. The main herons are little egrets,[27] also night herons and Chinese pond herons.[3]^: 354 There are also rare species of amphioxus in the vicinity, which is the object of nature protection of Xiamen City.[14]^: 728[Note 4] After the establishment of Xiamen amphioxus nature reserve in September 1991, it was upgraded to the national level in April 2000 and the scope of the reserve was expanded to other islands such as Xiaodeng Island.[3]^: 353[25]^{: 371–375} The main industries in the sea area of Xiaodeng Island are fishing industry and aquaculture, among which fishing is mainly carried out in the sea area near the island,[17] and fishing mainly uses methods and tools such as trawling, seining, setting, gillnetting, triangle bindings, etc. The depth of the fishing area is within 20 meters, and the substrate is sandy mud and mud sand, and the main products are nine shrimps, hairy shrimps, Zhou's new shrimps, spotted shrimps, one-horned new shrimps, etc.[25]^{: 363–368} Besides, there are also horseshoe crabs, which are not allowed to be caught now.[3]^{: 349–353} The farming industry is the main source of income for the residents of Xiaodeng Island, mainly farming nori, sea oysters, fish, shellfish, shrimps, etc. Among them, the spores of Xiaodeng nori were cultivated in space with Shenzhou 7 spacecraft in 2008.[25]^{: 363–368} Xiaodeng Island also cultured kelp from 1983 to 1991, with a total area of 100 mu of Da Deng kelp cultured in the same period, and the annual output of dried products is nearly 100 tons;[3]^: 349 green grouper was discovered and artificially cultured in 2007, with an annual output of about 10,000 tails; a new demonstration base for the construction of grouper seed innovation and industrialization project was built in 2011.[6]

Tourism Resources

There are rich tourism resources on Xiaodeng Island, such as the Xiaodeng Island tunnel (303 civil defense project, 1,300 meters long, dug in 1969 and completed in 1972),[8] Bumin Iron Tree King (600 years old), Dokki Forest, Tang Dynasty Beauty Well, Xiaodeng Yingling Temple, Xiaodeng Leisure Fishing Village, etc. Among them, Xiaodeng Leisure Fishing Village is the first leisure fishery plan compiled in Fujian Province in 2005 and is the first batch in China. It is one of the first national leisure fishery demonstration bases in China and mainly focuses on grouper factory tourism projects with grouper scientific research, nursery, breeding, and ornamental projects, and the village also has resort hotels, business meetings, theme parties, expansion training, and other projects to make the island a resort base. Besides, the island tent tourism and culture festival will be held on Xiaodeng Island from July to August every year, and the seaweed tourism and culture festival will be held on Xiaodeng Island from January to November every year.[6]

References

Notes