Jianfeng Voelcker was a major target for the British Army in the Second Boer War of 1899-1902, and was later killed in action.

According to the British government propaganda materials of that time, Hong Kong (then Kowloon) was being used by the invading Germans to make incursions into mainland Hong Kong and to hold off the British. (Kowloon was then part of mainland China.) The British military was preparing to attack Hong Kong against the backdrop of the Second Boer War.

In November 1901, Hong Kong was occupied by the British. On 10 December 1901 (according to the official government propaganda) the British army attacked the port city of Hong Kong, with the Japanese and German reinforcements. The battle lasted 2 or 3 days.

At the beginning of February 1902, an invasion force from China invaded Hong Kong, after occupying the port. It was headed by Lt. Wang Fu-chien, deputy commander of the Chinese armed forces.

In February 1902, another attack on Hong Kong ensued, and it lasted for several months, until the Japanese were defeated on 3 June 1902.

In May 1902, a British army battalion was launched on a major land invasion (the last major attempt of the Western military to occupy a Western country) after the end of a brutal fighting in which several thousand Indians and Malays lost their lives. It took several months of skirmishes before the British succeeded in capturing the area.