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 stunt rider performs on the wooden wall during a fair in Bogra, Bangladesh, February 10, 2021. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Fearless daredevils clamber up the worlds highest man-made climbing wall – running up the face of a 540ft dam. The Diga di Luzzone in Switzerland is considered by climbers as the Everest of wall climbing. (Photo by Ilana Marcus/Caters News)

People climb on an artificial ice-wall in Liberec, about 100 km north of Prague, Czech Republic, Saturday, January 23, 2015. The wall was prepared in a former quarry just near the centre of the city. (Photo by Radek Petrasek/CTK via AP Photo)

People take photographs of waves crashing against the harbour wall on January 3, 2012 in Porthcawl, Wales. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Jimmy Fallon and Madonna sign the Facebook wall before their livestream interview at the Facebook offices on March 24, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

People pass by debris from a wall in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, in Santiago, Cuba, on October 29, 2025. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)