Si Collection, Upper Volume Radical: Water (shuǐ) Lai Kangxi strokes: 12 Page 632, Entry 12 Pronounced lai Name of a river. According to the Analytical Dictionary of Characters (Shuowen Jiezi), the river originates in Guangchang, Northern Territory, and flows east into the Yellow River. In the Rites of Zhou (Zhouli), Summer Offices, Officials of Geography, it is stated that in Bingzhou the rivers are the Lai and the Yi.