In 1368, fisherman residents of the nearby Huangqi Peninsula moved to and lived on the island. On February 13, 1951, under cover of fog, eight Chinese Communist motorized junks and more than twenty wooden ships surrounded and attacked the island. After two hours of fighting, the Chinese Communist forces were repelled. In the early morning of November 20, 1954, ROC soldier Wang Hsi-Tien was severely injured while capturing a frogman solider from mainland China who had landed on the island. Communist soldiers who swim to the islands from the mainland are referred to among the soldiers as 'water goblins'. On March 4, 1955 during the First Taiwan Strait Crisis, an assault on Kaoteng Island by forty Communist motorized junks was driven off. On the three days of October 7, 11 and 14, 1955, a total of 49 rounds were fired at Kaoteng in Chinese Communist shelling of the island. On October 29, 12 rounds were fired at Gaodeng Island from Fenjishan on the Beijiao Peninsula. On December 28, Nationalist and Communist forces clashed for an hour in the waters near Gaodeng Island. There were reports of shelling directed at Kaoteng later in the year. On February 3, 1956, Gaodeng Island was shelled over 600 times. On February 9, the island was shelled 154 times. On March 19, the island was shelled 119 times and Nationalist forces returned fire, firing thirteen shells. On April 24, the island was shelled 246 times. On May 17, the island was shelled 136 times. On August 19, 1958, President Chiang Kai-shek visited the island. On February 6, 1960, Chinese Communists fired 165 shells at the island. Nationalist forces sustained no injuries. In September/October 1975, frogmen from mainland China landed on the island twice and left threatening messages in graffiti. On December 26, 2000, a Chinese fishing boat was spotted from Kaoteng Island. The Coast Guard fired 16 rounds of ammunition into the air as a warning. Six crew members aboard were arrested on the spot and the ship sank into the sea. On the morning of September 9, 2005, President Chen Shui-bian visited Gaodeng Island and other nearby islands. In April 2019, a Beigan-registered fishing boat reported that it was attacked and chased off by numerous Chinese boats in Taiwan-controlled waters between Gaodeng and Zhongdao on the afternoon of April 17. The next day, a Taiwan Coast Guard vessel was pelted with rocks by the crew of a Chinese ship off the coast of the Matsu Islands.
Geography
Mountains on the island include Beishan which reaches above sea level and Nanshan which reaches above sea level. Ports include Nan-ao Port, Tiejian Port and Dawei Port.
