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)

Hindu pilgrims walk along a mountain path as they make their pilgrimage to the sacred Amarnath Cave, one of the most revered Hindu shrines, near Baltal, Kashmir, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak)

A runner traverses the route during the Mount Everest Challenge Marathon which winds past spectacular views of Everest and Kanchenjunga at Sandakphu National Park in the month of November 1995 near Darjeeling, India.

Meenakshi Amman Temple and Meenakshi Amman Kovil is a historic Hindu temple located on the southern bank of the Vaigai River in the temple city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated to Parvati, known as Meenakshi, and her consort, Shiva, here named Sundareswarar.

The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising. It is now a museum and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

An Indian Sadhu, or Hindu holy man, sits for a community feast at the Sangam, the confluence of the Rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, during the annual month-long Magh Mela religious fair in Allahabad, India, Friday, January 16, 2015. Hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus are expected to take holy dips at the confluence during the astronomically auspicious period of over 45 days celebrated as Magh Mela. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

Tiharu Ram, 70, a follower of Ramnami Samaj, who has tattooed the name of the Hindu god Ram on his face, poses for a picture outside his house in the village of Chandlidi, in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh, India, November 16, 2015. Denied entry to temples and forced to use separate wells, low-caste Hindus in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh first tattooed their bodies and faces more than 100 years ago as an act of defiance and devotion. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

A bride gets her make-up done before the start of a mass marriage ceremony in Kolkata, India, February 14, 2016. A total of 150 tribal Hindu, Muslim and Christian couples from various villages across the state took their wedding vows on Sunday during the day-long mass marriage ceremony organised by a social organisation, the organisers said. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)