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)

Community members look for the nameplates of their loved ones Tuesday, December 9, 2014 at Myers Funeral Service and Crematory in Porterville, Calif. during the 20th year of the memorial tree lighting. (Photo by Chieko Hara/AP Photo/The Porterville Recorder)

A sign that reads “No more massacres LGBT” is seen to remember the victims of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando, near the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Mexico, June 14, 2016. (Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

Cave Diver, Anhumas Abyss, Bonito, Brazil: The Anhumas Abyss is an underground cavern with a crystal-clear lake below, more than 260 feet (79 m) deep. A visitor must enter through a narrow opening at the top of the chamber and rappel into the cave. Snorkeling and scuba diving in the lake reveal amazing scenery. Distinctive, conical limestone stalagmites and stalactites occupy the lake and the surrounding area, some reaching 65 feet (20 m) high. (Photo by Marcio Cabral/Nature’s Best Photography Awards 2017)

Olympic medal winning twins Jessica (left) and Jennifer Gadirova celebrate their GCSE results at Aylesbury Vale Academy in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom onThursday, August 12, 2021. (Photo by Steve Parsons/PA Images via Getty Images)

Rocky the cat's recovery from a nerve condition in his legs is coming along swimmingly – thanks to regular hydrotherapy sessions at a 20ft-long swimming pool in United Kingdom in the second decade of March 2022. The two-year-old wears a life vest to help keep him afloat and needs a plastic toy to lure him from one end of the pool to the other. (Photo by Max Willcock/BNPS Press Agency)

Residents carrying their belongings and pet dogs wade through a flooded street as they evacuate from their inundated homes in Liloan town, Cebu province, on November 4, 2025, after Typhoon Kalmaegi hit overnight. (Photo by Alan Tangcawan/AFP Photo)

A woman poses for a photographer (not pictured) as a man sits next to her in downtown Catania, Italy April 20, 2016. (Photo by Tony Gentile/Reuters)