People take pictures near a Soviet flag flying on an embankment in Saint Petersburg, Russia on June 17, 2023. The flags of Russia, the USSR, and the Russian Empire were installed on the shore to mark the anniversaries of each flag's adoption. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)

An elephant with a shackled leg is pictured at the Hanoi Zoo in Hanoi on August 16, 2023. Legs in iron chains and unable to roam freely, the treatment of two elderly elephants at the Hanoi public zoo has drawn outrage from animal lovers across Vietnam. (Photo by Nhac Nguyen/AFP Photo)

Women dressed in kimonos pose for a selfie photograph at a deserted torii path Fushimi Inari Taish shrine on January 18, 2021 in Kyoto, Japan. Kyoto, along with a Osaka and several other prefectures, was brought under a state of emergency last week by the Japanese government as they grapple to contain the third, and most virulent, wave of Covd-19 coronavirus to hit the country. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)

In this Sunday, March 5, 2017 photo, hospitality staff pose for photos on Tiananmen Square during the National People's Congress held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

U.S. President Barack Obama laughs as he reads the storybook “Where the Wild Things Are” during the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House in Washington April 6, 2015. Thousands of children gathered at the White House for the annual Easter Egg Roll. This year's event features live music, cooking stations, storytelling, and of course, some Easter egg roll. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

A ballet student poses for a friend to take photos, at the national ballet school in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, December 12, 2019. The Soviet-style system that recruits children into a system of increasingly selective state dance schools has produced hundreds of elite dancers including Lorna Feijoo, Rolando Sarabia, Taras Domitro, Anette Delgado and Carlos Acosta. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/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)

Ethnic Miao women in traditional costumes take part in a tug of war as they celebrate the local ethnic Miao's new year at a village in Rongshui Miao Autonomous county, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China January 5, 2019. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)