The earliest record about Wuzhizhou Island can be traced back to Qing Dynasty. During the governing period of Emperor Guangxu of Qing Dynasty, Taoist Wu Huacun of Hainan left his footsteps in almost all islands in Hainan and expected to find out an ideal place for making pills of immortality and cultivating vital energy. He was deeply touched by charming sights and spectacular nature landscapes in Wuzhizhou Island and subsequently he felt like to build up a cottage where he could make pills of immortality and cultivate vital energy.
Later, Zhong Yuanli (Magistrate of Yazhou District) heard about that, and he paid a visit to the Island for inspection. He found out that both landscape and geomantic omen of the island can be rated as perfect and thus he believed that such a treasure place should not be exclusively owned by an individual but should benefit local people instead. So he deterred Taoist Wu attempt and raised money and built up a hospice named as ffshore Hansan Temple?to consecrate Cang Jie, the initiator of Chinese characters, all of which would be recognized as unusual and pioneering effects and rated as the hallmark of Hainan history in aspect of cultural development.
The Temple was initially established in A.D. 1893 and thus it has a history of more than one hundred years. Accompanying with the degeneration of the central government of Qing Dynasty, the Temple gradually ruined and deserted. Local fishermen even replaced the stature of Cang Jie with that of Goddess Matsu and devoutly prayed for blessings from Matsu, the Patron Saint for fishermen, to protect them during their daily works in the vast ocean.
After liberation Wuzhizhou Island was requisitioned by the PlA as the strategic defense zone. Since the open sea area is only about twelve nautical miles away from the southeast orientation along the Island, the Island is of vital importance for its strategic positions and it is the defensive front line. The Korean War in 1950s, the military confrontation between the mainland and Taiwan KMT government and the Vietnam War at the beginning of 1970s once aroused strained atmosphere of war in this island.
According to former PLA commanders, with a high-definition telescope in hands and standing at the peak you may even detect detailed personnel activities of the USA 7th Armada which prowled in open sea area. During the following thirty years after liberation, the PLA has built large quantity of underground combat readiness works with an aggregated length of four kilometers.
In the 1990s, peace and development became the main themes of the world and the Island lost its strategic meaning due to fast development of modern weapons, and consequently the PLA gradually abandoned it. Hence Wuzhizhou Island commenced it great historic changes as a Holly Land for holiday and leisure
