Vietnamese child prodigies

Thần đồng Đất Việt (transl. Vietnamese child prodigy) is a Vietnamese comic series created by Lê Linh and published by the Phan Thị Publishing Company, in cooperation with the Tre Publishing House. The comic series chronicles the life of the Vietnamese people (along with their culture) during the Vietnamese imperial period.^[1] A quiz show - based on, and with the same name as the comic series itself, was broadcast on VTC1 in 2006.

Even though this comic series is set in the late Lê dynasty, the actual events that happened within the individual comic strips were based on real-life stories & historical tales from Vietnam.

The comic series follows the life story of Lê Tí, a Vietnamese child prodigy, along with his friends named Sửu Ẹo, Dần Béo, and Cả Mẹo. His life was already unusual from the day he was born. In his previous life, he was a wizard who had descended from heaven, in order to be able to aid the country of Đại Việt. Tí's mother is a woman named Hai Hậu, who after toiling away at the farms got pregnant and gave birth to Tí after sitting on a rock to rest.

From a young age, Tí presented himself as a loyal and intelligent son, which caused his teacher, Đồ Kiết, to be surprised by his level of intelligence. At his home village of Phan Thị – armed with his level of intelligence – he proceeded to help his mother, friends, and village inhabitants in solving difficult issues present within the village.

Passing the Vietnamese Confucian examinations, he became the youngest Vietnamese principal graduate in the country. After this, he also managed to get recognised by the Chinese Ming dynasty (otherwise known in the comic series as "Bắc quốc") as a binational principal graduate.

With his friends at his side, Tí made efforts in helping the king prevent the Chinese invasion from advancing; and dealing with the ambassadors that were sent in from China. In the kings' palace, he presents himself as an honest advisor, which attracted the love & attention of princess Phương Thìn. However, Phương Thìns' displays of love & affection to him also caused him to receive hatred from Tào Hống, the grand chancellor, who (along with his family) tries to embarrass him in public, though Tí was able to overcome most of the attempts. Due to his extraordinary level of intelligence, he also managed to get trusted by the king to be the ambassador for Vietnam to the Chinese Ming dynasty's kings, of which he also received numerous attempts to murder him by the Chinese kings and grand chancellorsy to lower the reputation of his home country, to the point where he almost dies. Even though he still holds the position of the kings' advisor, he sometimes gets permission from the king to leave the palace to go back to his home village to tend to his mother and other inhabitants, of which he continues to help even after he had become the kings' advisor.

There are 12 main characters in the series, with names that correspond to the Chinese zodiacs: Ti (Mouse), Suu (Ox), Dan (Tiger), Meo (Rabbit or Cat), Thin (Dragon), Ty (Snake), Ngo (Horse), Mui (Goat), Than (Monkey), Dau (Rooster), Tuat (Dog) and Hoi (Pig).

Of the 12 main characters of the series, Guard Duong Ba Tuat is the only adult.

Le Ti (also known as Ti or Ti Sún) was previously Van Tinh Quan, God from heaven, reincarnated, and the youngest Poinsettia of Vietnam. He's intellectual, quick to learn, clever, and has a bright face and good memory. The North empire admires his intelligence, and the Emperor of the North appoints him as Poinsettia of both Countries. He saves Dai Viet and Phan Thi Village from danger many times.

He serves as Dai Viet's chief ambassador to the North Empire, borderland inspection specialist lieutenant general, supreme commander, leads people against foreign enemies, the chief examiner, and briefly serves as chancellor. He is arranged to marry princess Phuong Thin, but refuses to, which causes his chancellor title to be revoked. After this he serves as one of the King's masterminds.