Lý Thánh Tông (30 March 1023 – 1 February 1072), personal name Lý Nhật Tôn , temple name Thánh Tông, was the third emperor of the Lý dynasty and the 8th ruler of the Vietnamese kingdom Đại Việt. In his reign, Lý Thánh Tông promoted the agricultural development, reducing some harsh laws and building many Confucianist and Buddhist institutions, most notably the first Temple of Literature in Vietnam (1072). He also fought several successful wars with Champa, resulting in the expansion of Vietnamese territory to the areas which are Quảng Bình Province and Quảng Trị Province today. Chinese sources identify Lý Nhật Tôn as the Viet king that dared to claim imperial status, which for the Chinese was a direct challenge to their view of the world that prelude to the Song-Viet war in 1070s. Early life Lý Nhật Tôn was the eldest son of the second emperor Lý Phật Mã and Queen Mai Thị. He was born on March 30, 1023, at Càn Đức palace. Unlike his father and grandfather, he had not lived in the disturbed atmosphere of Hoa Lư. He came of age witnessing and participating in the exuberance of Lý Phật Mã's reign. His father had readily delegated important tasks to him. He led soldiers against rebels, he judged offenders, he presided over the court in his father's absence, and he always knew that he would be king. In 1033, he was conferred crown prince after his father ascended the throne as Prince Khai Hoàng (開皇王). Reign Domestic Just after succession, Lý Nhật Tôn shortened the kingdom's name from Đại Cồ Việt to Đại Việt (literally "Great Viet"), initiating the most prosperous epoch throughout the history of Vietnam under that name. Lý Thánh Tông incorporated both Sinic and Indic elements into his court. In 1059 he ordered all palace officers who would approach him to wear contemporary Chinese-style headgear and footwear. Junior royal servants, scribes (thư gia), ten of whom were promoted to law officers in 1067. In 1063, at 40 years old and still without a son and having visited shrines and temples throughout the kingdom to pray for an heir, he traveled to the Pháp Vân pagoda, about thirty kilometers east of Thăng Long at the ancient site of Luy Lâu, where Shi Xie had governed at the turn of the third century. This was among the first Buddhist temples to be built in