"(The Beijing News) Since 1984, his over 30 original plays have continually pioneered the way toward new horizons in modern Chinese theatre.China's prominent literary critic Yu Qiuyu says that Lai's work “always has the ability to touch the heartstrings of countless audiences.”

Lai's most famous works includes "That Evening, We Performed Crosstalk" (1985), which revived the dying art of "Crosstalk" in Taiwan; "The Village" (2008), described by the "China Times" as "a collectible treasure for our generation" and by the Beijing News as "The pinnacle of our era of theatre"; the 8 hour epic "A Dream Like A Dream" (2000), described by prominent theatre critic Raymond Zhou as "a major milestone in Chinese theater, possibly the greatest Chinese-language play since time immemorial"; and perhaps his best known play Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land (1986), described by the New York Times as "may be the most popular contemporary play in China…by the end, the audience is left to contemplate the burdens of memory, history, longing, love and the power of theater itself."