A portrait of late communist leader Mao Zedong is seen behind two hostesses as they pose for a picture at the Tiananmen Square during the 3nd plenary session of the National People's Congress in Beijing on March 13, 2016. China's Communist-controlled parliament opened its annual session on March 5 and is expected to appove a new five-year plan to tackle slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)

Photo taken on January 3, 2018 shows the snow-light show at the Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Snow Wonderland, a 3D snow-light show applying modern sound, light and digital technologies has been displayed at Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo recent days. (Photo by Wang Jianwei/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Flight attendants of Zhejiang Loong Airlines undergo rigorous posture training on March 14, 2022 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. A total of 300 flight attendants received an etiquette training, including 13 courses for Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, which will be held from Sept. 10 to 25, 2022 in Hangzhou. (Photo by Wang Gang/China News Service via Getty Images)

In this September 10, 1977, file photo, from left, Hua Guofeng, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chairman and Mao Zedong's immediate successor; Ye Jianying, CCP vice chairman and future ceremonial head of state; Deng Xiaoping, no formal titles at the time but soon to emerge as paramount leader during the reform era; Li Xiannian, CCP vice chairman and future president; Wang Dongxing, head of the leadership bodyguard unit who helped topple the Gang of Four, view the body of later Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Beijing. (Photo via AP Photo)

Yan Mengjie sits on a boat as she poses for photos near Erhai Lake in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, China on June 16, 2019. Erhai is one of China's biggest freshwater lakes and a backdrop to the city of Dali, which drew 47 million visitors last year, more than triple the number in 2010. Hotels and homestays have sprung up along a 31-mile (50-km) stretch of lakeside road to accommodate tourists. But officials ordered some hotels demolished after President Xi Jinping during a 2015 visit called for the lake to be protected. (Photo by Tingshu Wang/Reuters)

Two workers shovel mud from the river as they look for gold on March 25, 2014 in Lampang, Thailand. Thai villagers from Wang Nuea, North of Thailand, look for gold in the river every year during the drought season. They are able to make an average around USD 15 per day, however two years ago they reached USD 200 in one day due to the river level dropping so much. The workers begin to search for gold at 10 AM and work until sunset, often working second jobs in the day in order to survive. (Photo by Borja Sanchez-Trillo/Getty Images)

Wang Zeyu, 4, a fee-paying enthusiast of kung fu, practises during a training class at a kung fu school near the Shaolin Temple April 10, 2005 in Dengfeng, Henan Province, China. Zeyu's father sent him to the school from his home in Jiangsu Province, thousands kilometres away from Dengfeng, when he was just 3 years old. And his father must pay 9,800 yuan (US$1195) for one year's tuition at the school, a huge amount for most Chinese. There are more than 80 kung fu schools that line the road from the city of Dengfeng to the Shaolin Temple with hundreds and thousands of young kung-fu lovers from all over the country and beyond studying here. All the schools use the Shaolin name to attract students as the Shaolin Temple is the birthplace of Chinese Kung Fu. (Photo by Cancan Chu/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)