Some are in it just for the money, others to help buy a meal. Then there are those who trade for fun or to spend time among friends. Millions of investors – pensioners, security guards, high-school students – dominate China's stock markets, conducting about 80 percent of all trades. Retirees gather in brokerage houses dotted around China also to enjoy some company and savour the air conditioning on hot days. Some start as young as 13, trading from home with an eye on future careers in finance. Winning isn't guaranteed. This year, among the most turbulent in China's financial history, its stock markets more than doubled in the six months to May, only to crash amid concerns that growth in the country, which makes everything from cars to steel, is slowing faster than previously thought. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

A moment of intimacy at the Sydney Cherry Blossom festival in Auburn Botanic Gardens on August 19, 2024. (Photo by Mike Bowers/The Guardian)

Jackie Galarza greets the Camarasaurus dinosaur held by Houston Ferguson during the “Jurassic Quest” experience at Broward County Convention Center on July 08, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Fans of dinosaurs can walk through moving and roaring animatronic replicas of the now extinct creatures during the three-day event. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A cat stretches on top of dried seafood in a shop in the Sheung Wan district of Hong Kong on August 7, 2020. International Cat Day, celebrated on August 8, is a day to raise awareness for cats and learn about ways to help and protect them. (Photo by Isaac Lawrence/AFP Photo)

Customers ride escalators at a shopping mall in central Moscow, Russia on March 2, 2019. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

A spotless GWR (Great Western Railway) locomotive, the “Royal Sovereign” waiting to carry Queen Victoria's coffin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 28th January 1901

“I was on Durga Puja Festival vacation, travelling on a local train. A boy was singing devotional song and begging for alms. He was guised as a Hindu god, Lord Shiva. This is a common view in Indian trains but this boy was charming, bright and did have a melodious voice. My camera was ready hanging on my neck so I took a picture”. (Photo and caption by Arup Ghosh/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

Couples take part in a competition during a mass wedding of 64 doctoral student couples at Harbin Institute of Technology, a university in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China, June 4, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)