Lai was born in Taichung in 1931 and began working for Agriculture Education Motion Pictures in the 1950s. After undergoing further training in color filmmaking in Japan, he returned to Taiwan's
Central Motion Picture Corporation. Lai is regarded as a pioneer of color filmmaking in Taiwan and has won the
Golden Horse Award for Best Color Cinematography in
1965,
1970, and
1972, for
Beautiful Duckling,
Stardust, and
Execution in Autumn, respectively. When Lai began directing films, he hired
Hou Hsiao-hsien as his screenwriter and assistant director.
In 2022, Lai shared the Golden Horse Lifetime Achievement Award with
Chang Chao-Tang. Lai died on 18 April 2026, at the age of 94. ==References==