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)

The giant inflatable Rubber Duck installation by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman floats on the Parramatta River, as part of the 2014 Sydney Festival, in Western Sydney, January 10, 2014. The creation is five stories tall and five stories wide and has been seen floating in various cities around the world since 2007. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)

A participant in costume eats a sandwich after a Halloween parade in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo, October 26, 2014. More than 100,000 spectators turned up to watch the parade, where 2,500 participants dressed up in costumes, according to the organiser. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)

This 1999 photo, supplied by HBO, shows a younger-looking James Gandolfini, who plays mob boss Tony Soprano, in an episode from the first season of the HBO cable television mob series, “The Sopranos”. Actor James Gandolfini, best known for his Emmy-winning portrayal of a conflicted New Jersey mob boss in the acclaimed HBO cable television series “The Sopranos”, has died while vacationing in Rome, the network said on June 19, 2013. (Photo by Anthony Neste/AP Photo/HBO)

Colleen Kelley, of Iowa City, Iowa, fixes the hat on her dog Bruce during judging at the 35th annual Drake Relays Beautiful Bulldog Contest, Monday, April 21, 2014, in Des Moines, Iowa. The pageant kicks off the Drake Relays festivities at Drake University where a bulldog is the mascot. (Photo by Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo)

A boy bursts a soap-bubble at Gorky Park in Moscow on July 19, 2017. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

A Nepalese Hindu boy in festival attire walks in a procession during “Gai Jatra”, or Cow Festival in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, August 19, 2016. Members of Nepal's Newar Community celebrate the festival in memory of their family members who died the preceding year, believing that the cow will guide them in their journey to heaven. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

Yin and yang. Sеxy women grey background. Sensual women in erotic lingerie. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)