A Palestinian clown wearing a face mask while entertaining children at their home during the lockdown after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Jabalia Refugee Camp in northern Gaza Strip on November 18, 2020. (Photo by Mahmoud Issa/Quds Net News/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A gallery worker poses with work by artist Elinor Stanley during a press preview of The RA Schools Show 2023 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Britain, 08 June 2023. The RA Schools Show 2023 runs from 08 to 25 June 2023 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. (Photo by Neil Hall/EPA)

Beatriz Hatz, of the U.S., competes at Women's Long Jump -T64 final at the Stade de France stadium, during the 2024 Paralympics, Saturday, August 31, 2024, in Paris, France. (Photo by Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo)

A woman takes a dip in icy water during celebrations of the Orthodox Christian feast of Epiphany in Pereslavl-Zalessky, Yaroslavl region, Russia on January 18, 2022. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Wrestlers compete in the 63rd Historical Cali Oil Wrestling Tournament, held on June 29, 2025, in Bursa, Turkiye. The event, which featured over 800 wrestlers and served as the final rehearsal for the 664th Historical Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival, is on track to become a stage of the Oil Wrestling League, now in its third season. (Photo by Mustafa Yilmaz/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Supporters of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez bring down an inflatable doll of Chavez during a commemoration of what would have been the leader's 68th birthday, at the 23 de Enero neighborhood in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, July 28, 2022. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

A woman holds her dog after arriving from Russian-occupied territory at a registration and processing area for internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, in Ukraine, on May 8, 2022. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/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)