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)

Rahma, 19 (L), pictured with her 10-year old brother Fahad on June 21, 2016 in Kano, Nigeria. A teenage girl born without limbs lives her life in a plastic bowl. Rahma Haruna is a bright, happy girl, despite suffering from a mystery condition that stopped her arms and legs developing properly – leaving her practically limbless and in constant pain. The 19-year- old, from Kano, Nigeria, was born a healthy baby but when she turned six months old her growth came to a sudden halt and she stopped hitting key development milestones. Rahma’s family do their best to provide her with a fulfilling life and transport her around the village in a plastic bowl. Rahma said: “They help me a lot. How do they? They give me anything I need”. Rahma died on 25 December 2016. (Photo by Sani Maikatanga/Barcroft Images)

Vietnamese-American singer and songwriter Thuy poses for a portrait backstage at the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 13, 2024 in Indio, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Coachella)

A hot air balloon in tortoise shape flies in the air during the Tazaungdaing air balloon festival in Pyin Oo Lwin, Myanmar, 25 November 2015. During the festival, hot air balloons made of multicolored papers and hung with paper lanterns, fireworks and fire sticks are exploded in mid-air. (Photo by Hein Htet/EPA)

A Sikh devotee carries on over-sized religious sword during a religious procession to celebrate the birth anniversary of the first Sikh Guru or master, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism in Amritsar, India, 05 November 2014. The birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji will be observed on 06 November. (Photo by Raminder Pal Singh/EPA)

A female sniper of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) monitors the area during a celebration at the iconic Al- Naim square in Raqa on October 19, 2017, after retaking the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. The SDF fighters flushed jihadist holdouts from Raqa' s main hospital and municipal stadium, wrapping up a more than four- month offensive against what used to be the inner sanctum of IS' s self- proclaimed “caliphate”. (Photo by Bulent Kilic/AFP Photo)

A Philippine boy collects used plastic bottles to be sold at a junk shop at Divisoria market in Manila on November 29, 2017. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)

A jaguar (Panthera onca) growls at the Mata Ciliar association, an organization for the conservation of biodiversity, in Jundiai, Sao Paulo state, Brazil on May 29, 2025. Twenty-five pumas and ten jaguars are currently recovering at the Brazilian Center for the Conservation of Neotropical Felines at Mata Ciliar, a site as large as 40 football fields where monkeys, wild dogs, maned wolves, ocelots, and other regional animals are also rehabilitated. (Photo by Nelson Almeida/AFP Photo)