People carrying torches march during the traditional Bonfire Celebrations in Lewes, Britain on November 4, 2017. Lewes holds Britain's largest Bonfire night celebrations. The event marks Guy Fawkes Night and the uncovering of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and commemorates the memory seventeen Protestant martyrs from the town who were burned at the stake. Thousands gather with flaming torches to march through the street and burn effigies. (Photo by Neil Hall/EPA/EFE)

A police officer wearing a Balinese traditional mask, called celuluk, performs as the new coronavirus during a campaign to wear masks as a precaution against the virus outbreak at a market in Bali, Indonesia, Thursday, May 14, 2020. (Photo by Firdia Lisnawati/AP Photo)

A woman films with her phone the incineration of packages of cocaine, part of a high seas drug seizure of 135 bundles by Salvadoran Naval Force, at a police base in Ilopango, El Salvador, November 29, 2021. (Photo by Jessica Orellana/Reuters)

A solders in ceremonial attire sweats as he waits outside Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall, in which Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn scheduled to grant a public audience in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, May 6, 2019. King Maha Vajiralongkorn was officially crowned amid the splendour of the country's Grand Palace, taking the central role in an elaborate centuries-old royal ceremony that was last held almost seven decades ago. (Photo by Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP Photo)

A woman wearing a wedding dress takes part in the so-called “brides' match” at the FIFA Fan Fest in Kazan, a host city for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Russia June 30, 2018. (Photo by Alexey Nasyrov/Reuters)

Zhao Deli waves as he pilots his self-made “flying scooter” in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China, 12 August 2018 (issued 16 August 2018). Inspired by a cartoon he watched as a child, Zhao Deli sold off his apartment in pursuit of his dream of building a flying scooter. (Photo by Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA/EFE)

An “asparagus eating contest” made of asparagus and carved pumpkins is on display on the sidelines of the Giant Vegetable Competition in Klaistow, northeastern Germany, on September 20, 2015. The vegetable giants compete in seven categories. (Photo by Bernd Settnik/AFP Photo)

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)