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 saguaro (scientific name Carnegiea gigantea) is a large, tree-sized cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in the U.S. state of Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, a small part of Baja California in the San Felipe Desert and an extremely small area of California, U.S. The saguaro blossom is the State Wildflower of Arizona”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Daniel Appel (L), a firefighter with Engine 84 from the Lassen National Forest in California and Mike Hallen, (R), Arizona representative of the National Register of Big Trees, measure the circumference of this Saguaro cactus called the "Grand One," in the Tonto National Forest on July 1, 2005 35 miles north of Phoenix, near Carefree, Arizona. The cactus, estimated to be more than 200 years old, measures a circumference of 7 feet, 10 inches (2.4 meters) and stands 46 feet high (14 meters). The cactus was burned in the Cave Creek Complex fire and may not survive. It was once the largest Saguaro in the world, two others have been found recently that have tied it's measurements. The fire has burned more than 214,000 acres of the Sonoran desert. (Photo by Jeff Topping/Getty Images)

American actress and model Christina Hendricks attends NBC's New York Mid Season Press Junket at Four Seasons Hotel New York on January 24, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

English singer and songwriter Dua Lipa “woke up in Vegas” early April 2022 in red thigh-high tights. (Photo by dualipa/Instagram)

Canadian actress Nina Dobrev kicks her leg up at Burning Man in the first decade of September 2022. (Photo by nina/Instagram)

American model Emily Ratajkowski attends the 2023 CFDA Awards at American Museum of Natural History on November 06, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Matt Baron/BEI/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

American media personality and socialite Kim Kardashian shared photos from her lavish trip to Turks and Caicos in the second decade of January 2024. Kim posed for selfies in the revealing look. (Photo by Kim Kardashian/Instagram)

British model and actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley arrives for the Versace's fall-winter 2015/2016 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Paris, France, Sunday, July 5, 2015. (Photo by Thibault Camus/AP Photo)