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 Pakistani labourer carries bricks on his back at a construction site at a residential area in Islamabad on March 29, 2017. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi/AFP Photo)

Children eat watermelons to meet the “beginning of autumn” at a kindergarten in Handan, China on August 7, 2015. Chinese tradition to eat watermelons or peaches before that day symbolises “biting away summer”. The solar term ‘beginning of autumn’ falls on 8 August this year. (Photo by Xinhua/REX Shutterstock)

Tong Jieping, 44-year-old mentally disabled patient, is chained by his foot inside his room, in Qunxing village of Wangjiang county, Anhui province, China, July 14, 2015. Tong was diagnosed mentally ill when he was in his 20s. His parents, both in their 70s, could not afford the medical treatments so they had to lock him up in chains to prevent him from running away, according to Tong's family. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Alex Plunkett, left, and Sean Hart, both of Arlington, Va., join hundreds participating in the annual International Pillow Fight Day on April 5. Massive pillow fights broke out on the Mall in Washington and in cities around the world. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

A storm whips through a tented area occupied by Nepalese earthquake survivors as a mother grabs her infant child and runs to find shelter in Kathmandu, Nepal 23 May 2015. Nepalese, who lost their homes in earthquake and fear aftershocks, have been living in temporary shelter in open ground which they had to flee because of the heavy rain and powerful wind. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)

English actress Jodie Comer attends The Olivier Awards 2023 after party at the Natural History Museum on April 2, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by David Levene/The Guardian)

Drag queen Courtney Act (real name Shane Jenek) attends the Celebrity Big Brother male contestants launch night at Elstree Studios on January 5, 2018 in Borehamwood, England. The drag queen was left over-exposed on last show after her outfit apparently fell off. (Photo by Mike Marsland/WireImage)