But just then China was taken over by the Communist Party, whose policies included persecution of the moneyed classes. So because of their landlord status, the family were in desperate straits. In 1959, Lee Cheuk Yan and his family were exiled to Hong Kong, losing all their property in the process.
但也或許如此，在標舉打倒資產階級的共產黨崛起後，李家處境日難，1959 年與家人逃難來港時，已是身無長物的破落戶。