A visitor poses for a photograph in front of a 3D painting depicting a Japanese Imperial army soldier at a 3D art gallery in Beijing January 16, 2015. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Train attendants take part in a parade training as they visit the national flag guard during a patriotic education event ahead of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Beijing, China July 25, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

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 tourist wearing Hanfu, a style of clothing traditionally worn by the Han people, poses for a photo with blooming cherry blossoms on International Women's Day on March 8, 2024 in Kunming, Yunnan Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

A vlogger who dressed up to look like a humanoid robot poses at the Shanghai auto show on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

Models wait backstage before the GUAXIN Autumn/Winter 2024 collection show by Chunlin Yang, during China Fashion Week in Beijing, China on March 29, 2024. (Photo by Tingshu Wang/Reuters)

A sales woman of a fish shop shows king crabs to a customer and negotiates the price in Noryangjin Fish Market is seen on August 1, 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. Noryangjin Fish Market was established in 1927 as Gyeongseong Susan in Jung-gu near Seoul Station and moved to its current location in 1971. (Photo by Shin Woong-jae/The Washington Post)

Andrea Spendolini Sirieix and Lois Toulson of Britain in action during the women's synchronized 10m diving at the Paris Olympics on July 31, 2024. (Photo by Leah Millis/Reuters)