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 participant dressed up in a costume attends the 2021 Prague Comic Con in Prague, Czech Republic, October 16, 2021. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

A man sells eels caught for a meal amid a lockdown to slow the spread of coronavirus, in a slum area of Yangon, Myanmar, October 21, 2020. (Photo by Shwe Paw Mya Tin/Reuters)

Women wearing protective masks talk to each other on a street, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on December 17, 2020. (Photo by Lim Huey Teng/Reuters)

Chinese workers maintain an Animatronic Dinosaurs at Gengu Dinosaurs Science and Technology company on November 13, 2019 in Zigong, Sichuan Province, China. There are hundreds of simulated dinosaur manufacturers in Zigong City. It is the largest simulated dinosaur manufacturing in China. It accounts for 95% of mainland China's production and 85% of the world's total. Its products are exported to more than 100 countries. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

A helicopter drops fire retardent to protect a property in Balmoral, 150 kilometres southwest of Sydney on December 19, 2019. A state of emergency was declared in Australia's most populated region on December 19, as a record heat wave fanned unprecedented bushfires. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP Photo)

Police detain an alleged thief in Lagos' Tafawa Balewa Square where the official People's Democratic Party (PDP) opposition party is holding a rally on February 12, 2019. Nigerians will cast their ballots on February 16 in presidential and legislative elections. The presidential contest will see incumbent Muhammadu Buhari seek to win a second four-year term against former vice president Atiku Abubakar in what is expected to be a close race. (Photo by Luis Tato/AFP Photo)

Participants perform a dragon dance as they march during a lantern parade marking the start of a month- long “Lotus Lantern Festival” to celebrate the upcoming Buddha' s birthday, in Seoul on April 29, 2017 Buddha' s birthday falls on May 3. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)