Thousands of bright Red Potatoes are washed and sorted at a vegetable market. Workers hose down tons of the vegetables before packing them into sacks at the market in Shibganj Upazila, Bogura, Bangladesh on February 19, 2023. The Red La Soda spuds are then taken to the country's capital Dhaka. (Photo by Mustasinur Rahman Alvi/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Customers crowd around a vibrant mango market in Bangladesh in the second decade of May 2024. Farmers transport the tropical fruit by bicycle, with each cyclist carrying about 200kg. (Photo by Bipul Ahmed/Solent News)

A vender arranges goods for sale at a market on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, January 10, 2024. (Photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)

A man carries a sack of corn through the Comayaguela market on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, days after general eletions in Honduras, Tuesday, November 30, 2021. Free Party presidential candidate Xiomara Castro, the wife of ousted former president Manuel Zelaya, has taken a commanding lead in Honduras' elections, capping a 12-year effort. (Photo by Moises Castillo/AP Photo)

A pigeon stretches its wings in the Ka Faroshi bird market in Kabul on July 16, 2022. (Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP Photo)

An employee at Christie's auction house examines a complete sub-fossilised elephant bird egg on March 27, 2013 in London, England. The elephant bird egg is expected to fetch 30,000 GBP when it features in Christie's “Travel, Science and Natural History” sale, which is to be held on April 24, 2013 in London. (Photo by Oli Scarff)

Workers sort freshly-painted Easter eggs at the Lueck poultry farm on April 7, 2011 in Sommerkahl near Aschaffenburg, Germany. The farm is currently working 24-hour shifts to meet demand for its brightly-coloured eggs two weeks before Easter. (Photo by Ralph Orlowski/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)