Cap Badge Hill

The Royal Hong Kong Regiment was the only locally raised military unit during Britain's colonial rule of Hong Kong. With the presence of marauding pirates in the mid-19th century, reduced British military presence in Hong Kong due to the Crimean War led to the regiment, originally consisting of volunteers, being formed in 1854.

The regiment saw action in the Battle of Hong Kong during World War II, sustaining many casualties. Post-WWII, the proximity of the regiment's barracks to the Hong Kong-China border meant they acted as border patrollers. They were also deployed as custodians for the asylum camps during the influx of Vietnamese boat refugees from the mid-1970s to early 1990s.

The regiment was disbanded in September 1995, ahead of Hong Kong's 1997 transfer of sovereignty to China. Before the official disbandment, regiment members ventured up the hill overlooking the San Wai camp to pour a diamond-shaped concrete base. Once set, the regimental coat of arms was painted onto a green background to mimic the badge's placement on the unit's berets. The logo features a crown flanked by two Chinese-style dragons and the regiment's Latin motto "Nulli Secundus in Oriente" (Second to none in the Orient).

The route up to the cap badge goes along an undulating ridge that is often referred to as Hong Kong's Great Wall, the same walk the RHKR would have undertaken on a daily basis. Whereas the panoramic views for the regimental members would have been over villages, farms and fields, the modern-day sights are vastly more built up, with skyscrapers dotting the views on either side of the border.