People look at paintings by artists inspired by the Pokemon at the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, on September 28, 2023. (Photo by Remko de Waal/ANP via AFP Photo)

Actors Patrick Brammall and Anne Hathaway seen on the set of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” in Brooklyn on August 05, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Aeon/GC Images)

People attend in costume the 2022 New York Comic Con, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., October 6, 2022. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Performance of the actress Asia Argento dedicated to the exhibition of the tattoo artist Marco Manzo at the Vittoriano museum in Rome, Italy on December 11, 2018. (Photo by Barbara Amendola/IPA Press)

Soldiers of People's Liberation Army (PLA) Lanzhou Military Region jump through a burning obstacle during a training session at a military base in Tianshui, Gansu province, China, January 6, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

English-Albanian singer and songwriter Dua Lipa shows off her end-of-summer body in the last decade of August 2023. (Photo by dualipa/Instagram)

General view of performance during the “Fuerza Bruta Wayra” show on February 28, 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images)

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)