The island was originally located in Kinmen County, Fuchien Province, Republic of China (ROC).

However, due to the construction of Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport, the overall facilities on the island will be demolished and relocated.

[7] 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.

[7] During the Song dynasty, it was rumored that the last emperor, Zhao Bing, lived on Xiaodeng Island during his escape.

[10]: 8 During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Xiaodeng Island was bombed and shelled by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces many times.

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.

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.

[13] The topography is high in the east and low in the west, the highest point is Xiyuewei with an altitude of 28 meters.

[3]: 348, 353–355 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.

[13] Hydrology Xiamen Bay, where Xiaodeng Island is located, is controlled by the tidal wave system of Taiwan Strait and is a resonant tide.

[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.

"[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.

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 Xiaodeng Island was included in the pilot project of the old village transformation and new village in 2006, and projects such as drainage ditch, street light, road hardening and sports facilities were built, and then the island was targeted for urbanization, but it has not been realized yet.

[15]: 36  Originally there was only a seawall only passable at low tide, in 2017 a temporary steel trestle bridge was built for the Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport area on Dadeng Island, 360 meters long and 6 meters wide, passable for bicycles and motorcycles, and then connected to the rest of the territory through Dadeng Island, and it was planned to build a permanent bridge after the completion of the Xiang'an airport construction.

[25]: 440–445 [14]: 525  In 2009, due to insufficient water depth pier renovation, the berth level was expanded and a floating pier was extended on the southwest side with the following ferry routes:[26][10]: 462 [3]: 352 In addition, a ship management station was established in 1985 on Xiaodeng Island, which is responsible for the management, service, and rescue of ships.

[10]: 404 Before 1971, a wired broadcasting station was built in Xiaodeng Island and a small number of tweeters were installed.

[10]: 79, 438–442 [13] As of 2001, there are about 100 mu of arable land on Xiaodeng Island, which is planted with dry crops such as sweet potatoes.

[3]: 354  There are also rare species of amphioxus in the vicinity, which is the object of nature protection of Xiamen City.

[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] There were 2,372 residents in Xiaodeng Island in 1989, about 2,500 in 2001,[13] more than 2,700 in 2007 and about 3,000 in 2008,[36] mainly with the population of surnames Qiu (moved in with Qiu Kwai at the end of the Song dynasty), Xu (moved in with Danzao in Kinmen in the Ming dynasty) and Su (moved in with Hongtang in Tong'an in the Ming dynasty),[10]: 105–108  among which there are many surnames Qiu and Xu in the front fort and also Hong and Wu in the back fort.