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The common practice of Karung Guni in Singapore is essentially a localised and modern
form of rag-and bone. The Karung Guni men are dealers who went from door-to-door to
buy or collect discarded household articles, which are then resold.
"Karung Guni" is a Malay phrase for gunny sack which was used in the past to hold
newspapers. The peddlars would slung these sacks over their shoulders. The men began to
ply their trade along five-foot-way and continued till this very day.
These Karung Guni men can be distinguished by their use of horns or hand bell and shouts
of "karang guni, gu poh zhua sa kor, leh-lio, dian si ki..." ("Rag and bone, old newspapers
and clothes, radios, televisions" in Singlish and Hokkien) when making their rounds. Some
of them placed their sacks into cylindrical baskets that was tied to two ends of a pole which
was balanced over the shoulders of the karang guni men.
Today, most of them use a hand truck instead.
More on this dying trade below:
In the Beginning
The Trade
The Progression
