Vo Trung Thanh really knows how to take advantage of his job as a grapefruit farmer to show his love for the country.

Thanh, based in the southern province of Hau Giang, is selling a special type of grapefruits, whose skins feature the Vietnamese map with the Truong Sa (Spratly) and Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelagos in the upcoming Lunar New Year, or Tet.

Thanh, head of a local farmer club, said he will send 400 such specially shaped fruits to the market for the holiday, falling on February 8.

The farmer said he had deliberately searched for a way to display his patriotism since the beginning of 2015.

Thanh eventually had the idea of growing the “Vietnamese seas and islands” grapefruits in the wake of the illegally stationing of the China's drilling rig HD 981 in Vietnam’s waters in May 2014, he recalled.

The farmer said the grapefruits, with the Vietnam’s Truong Sa and Hoang Sa islands on the skins, will help bring the Vietnamese sovereignty over the seas and islands issue to people in and outside the country.

Besides the “Vietnamese seas and islands” fruits, Thanh’s club will also produce some 10,000 grapefruits shaped as bottle gourds or gold bullion to embrace the Tet market.

The fruits, which will also feature lucky letters, such as happiness, fortune and longevity, on their skins, cost between VND300,000 to VND1.2 million (US$13.39 -$54) each.

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