A Turkey-backed Syrian fighter fires a rocket-propelled grenade as he takes part in a military exercise in the countryside of the northwestern city of Afrin, in rebel-held part of Aleppo province, on May 31, 2022. (Photo by Rami al Sayed/AFP Photo)

A surfer rides a wave at the snowy beach of Unstad, in Lofoten Island, Arctic Circle, on March 9, 2016. Surfers from all over the world comes to Lofoten island to surf in extrem conditions. Ocean temperature is 6-7 °C, air temperature around 0°C in spite of a weather very unstable. (Photo by Olivier Morin/AFP Photo)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, February 17, 2016, a volunteer fighter with the Syrian Government forces sits atop a tank in the province of Raqqa, Syria. In recent weeks, Syrian government forces captured dozens of villages and towns across the country. (Photo by Alexander Kots/Komsomolskaya Pravda via AP Photo)

In this aerial image, debris of the Japanese Imperial Navy fighter A6M “Zero” is seen in the field on August 29, 2016 in Babeldaob Island, Palau. The war was opened up 75 years ago by Imperial Japan against the allied forces, including the United States, by the Pearl Harbour attack on December 7, 1941, claimed more than 2 million lives until Japan's surrender in 1945. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)

Aymara indigenous women “Martha La Altena” (El Alto's Martha) (R) and “Susana La Bonita” (Pretty Susana) take part in a freestyle wrestling flight in El Alto, on June 29, 2018. “Cholita Fighters” aim to include their show in a tourist route. (Photo by Aizar Raldes/AFP Photo)

Wearing a Foo Fighters mask, Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart heads back to his net after giving up a goal to the Boston Bruins during the third period at TD Garden, in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday, November 17, 2022. (Photo by Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)

A Sukhoi Su-35S jet fighter of the Russian Knights aerobatic team performs during the International Maritime Defence Show “Fleet-2024” in Kronstadt, outside St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, June 21, 2024. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

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)