The island once served as a penal colony for political prisoners during Taiwan's period of martial law, although today it is primarily known as a tourist hotspot.

The name was adopted by the Republic of China on August 1, 1949, at the behest of Huang Shih-hung (Traditional Chinese: 黃式鴻), the magistrate of Taitung.

[6] Her captain then sailed by junk from the island to Kaohsiung,[6] and the Royal Navy gunboat HMS Bustard found and rescued the remainder of the survivors.

They were then gathered into one village, and have greatly increased since that time.On 11 December 1937 the Dollar Steamship Company luxury ocean liner SS President Hoover ran aground in a typhoon on a reef at Zhongliao Bay.

[10] Dollar Lines sold President Hoover's wreck to a Japanese salvage company, which spent the next three years breaking her up in situ.

[10] In response to the wreck, members of the US public gave money through the American Red Cross for a lighthouse to be built near Zhongliao village.

[12] Green Island first served as an isolated spot and place of exile for political prisoners during the martial law period during the Kuomintang government, and especially in the White Terror.

The place where most of the political prisoners (such as Shih Ming-teh) were held was "Green Island Lodge" (Pinyin: Lǜ Dǎo Shānzhuāng).

[14] The island is a habitat for Formosan sika deer, Reeves's muntjacs, Ryukyu flying foxes, and resident and migratory birds.