The Kuomintang was defeated by the Communists and fled the mainland for Taiwan in 1949. The Communists pursued the KMT as far as Kinmen, but there the pursuers were stopped in their tracks at the Battle of Kuningtou. Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu were saved from the Communists, but the Lee home was left in ruins. The family took refuge in the home of Lee's maternal grandparents.
一九四九年，國共內戰國民黨失利來台，慘烈的金門古寧頭保衛戰保住了台澎金馬，卻摧毀了李錫奇世居的家園，偌大的家產一夕之間化為烏有，一家人只好避居母親娘家吳厝，清貧度日。