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 picture made available on 20 October 2015 shows a foreign tourist posing for a souvenir photograph with a figure of a tiger head at a private zoo on Phuket Island, Thailand, 17 October 2015. Each day hundreds of tourists, including young children, visit the private tiger zoo where visitors are allowed to touch and pose for photographs with unchained tigers inside their enclosures. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)

Indonesian army soldier Partika Subagyo, wearing a costume of the puppet character Bima, dances to raise money for landslide victims, in Solo, December 17, 2014, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. The landslide in Banjarnegara destroyed a village and killed at least 32 people, according to officials. (Photo by Andika Betha/Reuters/Antara Foto)

A woman takes her souvenir picture with a white fox in front of ice sculptures illuminated by coloured lights during the opening day of the 31st Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, January 5, 2015. The annual Ice and Snow Festival, organized by China National Tourism Administration and local governments, kicked off on Monday in Harbin, one of the coldest cities in China. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier assigned to the Mobile Strike Force Kandak fires a RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launcher during a live-fire exercise supervised by the Marines with the Mobile Strike Force Advisor Team on Camp Shorabak, Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 20, 2013. The Marines with the Mobile Strike Force Advisor Team instructed and mentored their ANA counterparts on how to properly utilize their weapons systems. (Photo by SSgt Ezekiel R. Kitandwe/RCT 7)

Andrea Petkovic of Germany in action against Sara Errani of Italy during day one of the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament at the Caja Magica on May 3, 2014 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

A team of ten acrobats form the shape of a racehorse crossing the winning post ridden by Stefanie Hofer to celebrate the upcoming Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup at Ascot Racecourse on July 29, 2014 in Ascot, England. The Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup is the only team-format raceday in the UK and takes place on 9th August. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images for Ascot Racecourse)

“Shortly after he arrived, Van Agtmael witnessed the aftermath of this suicide bombing at a cafe that soldiers frequented in Mosul. Nine people died and 23 were wounded”. (Photo and caption by Van Agtmael/Harrison Jacobs/Magnum Photos)