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)

People pose for photos with scarecrow installations during the Scarecrow Art Festival at Huatuo Baicao Garden on November 22, 2025 in Bozhou, Anhui Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

In November 2021 Bryan Adams took the pictures for next year’s Pirelli calendar, which features fellow musicians including Cher, Rita Ora, Iggy Pop and the American singer Jennifer Hudson, above, as it depicts a typical day in the life of a touring performer. (Photo by Bryan Adams/Pirelli)

On the November 24, 2025, children are making human faces by collecting fallen leaves in the forest in front of the Yuseong-gu Office in Daejeon. (Photo by Shin Hyeon-jong)

Workers clad in a dog and a wild boar costumes, to represent the outgoing year of the dog and incoming year of the wild boar, clean windows on the side of a hotel in Tokyo on December 13, 2018. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo)

Children play in artificial snow as they visit NightGarden, an annual holiday experience featuring thousands of lights and special effects, at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Friday, November 15, 2024, in Coral Gables, Fla. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

Dancers from Tokyo wearing traditional costumes perform during a celebration event, a day before Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako's royal parade in front of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan November 9, 2019. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)