A man and his cat rest in the street after an earthquake on May 22, 2021 in Dali, Yunnan Province of China. According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, a 5.6-magnitude earthquake jolted Yangbi Yi autonomous county in Dali Bai autonomous prefecture, Southwest China's Yunnan province on Friday evening. (Photo by Liu Ranyang/China News Service via Getty Images)

Ladies enjoyed themselves last night – while keeping safe with their face masks on in Liverpool, United Kingdom on Saturday, December 5, 2020, after coronavirus restrictions were eased following the end of the second national lockdown. (Photo by London News Pictures)

Alejandro Ccasa prays after waiting three days next to an empty oxygen tank for his uncle who has COVID-19 outside a refill shop where he is the first in line before it opens in Callao, Peru, early Tuesday, February 2, 2021. Ccasa said his family has one large tank and it gives about four hours of oxygen therapy. (Photo by Martin Mejia/AP Photo)

Iranian visitors practice shooting with shooting simulators made in Iran at a police shooting simulation booth at the 19th International Police Security and Safety Equipment Exhibition (IPAS 2022) at the grand Mosalla mosque in Tehran, Iran, on October 20, 2022. (Photo by Rouzbeh Fouladi/Avalon)

A woman walks in front of an art installation made of artificial fruits and vegetables during the “Moscow Autumn” festival in central Moscow, September 14, 2015. (Photo by Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

U.S. Corporal Stanley Suski, left, and Miss Tamako, a Geisha girl, whirl a bit of Jitterbug, in a bar, in Tokyo, Japan, on October 1, 1945. (Photo by AP Photo)

Two railway workers chat in front of a flower mural inside a subway station visited by foreign reporters during a government organised tour in Pyongyang, North Korea October 9, 2015. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

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)