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)

A farmer arranges vegetable at a greenhouse on January 29, 2021 in Hukou County, Jiangxi Province of China. (Photo by Zhang Yu/VCG via Getty Images)

Japanese Yuuka Hasumi, 17, and Ibuki Ito, 17, also from Japan, who want to become K-pop stars, perform at an Acopia School party in Seoul, South Korea, March 16, 2019. Acopia is a prep school offering young Japanese a shot at K-pop stardom, teaching them the dance moves, the songs and also the language. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

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)

Expedition 44 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly seen inside the Cupola, a special module which provides a 360-degree viewing of the Earth and the International Space Station. Kelly is one of two crew members spending an entire year in space. (Photo by Scott Kelly/NASA)

Garbage pickers collect ride on donkey cart while looking for recyclable materials at a rubbish dump in the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, August 23, 2016. Despite its huge untapped oil and gas reserves and steadily rising oil output and revenue, 23 percent of the population live below the poverty line, according to the Ministry of Planning. (Photo by Khalid al Mousily/Reuters)

Manchester City's Phil Foden celebrates after scoring his side's sixth goal during the Champions League round of 16 second leg, soccer match between Manchester City and Schalke 04 at Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. (Photo by Dave Thompson/AP Photo)