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)

Belgium's Crown Princess Elisabeth, center, marches past the Royal tribune with cadets of the military school during the National Day parade in Brussels, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. Belgium celebrates its National Day on Wednesday in a scaled down version due to coronavirus, COVID-19 measures. (Photo by Olivier Matthys/AP Photo)

View at one of the sculptures by Swiss artist H.R. Giger during the opening of the Ars Electronica 2013 exhibition “HR Giger. The Art of Biomechanics” in Linz, Austria, 04 September 2013. (Photo by EPA/RUBRA)

A man sits next to a damaged idol of Hindu goddess Kali which was taken out after its immersion in the river Ganges in Haridwar, India, March 29, 2017. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

An Iranian woman wearing a face mask walks on a street in Tehran, Iran, 19 October 2020. According to the Iranian Health ministry, Iran reported its highest daily COVID-19 death toll of 337 and 4,251 new infections in past 24 hours as it appears that Iran is in a third wave of COVID-19 outbreak. (Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/EFE)

Children dressed as Hindu deities take part in an event to mark the consecration of Ayodhya Ram temple, in Bhopal on January 22, 2024. (Photo by Gagan Nayar/AFP Photo)

A woman prays as she touches the carcass of a male elephant after he, according to forest officials, was electrocuted early morning in a paddy field on the outskirts of Guwahati, India, June 20, 2017. (Photo by Anuwar Hazarika/Reuters)

Military officers look at an AR-10 sniper rifle at LAAD, the biggest military industry expo in Latin America in Sao Paulo, Brazil April 10, 2018. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)