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)

Chinese honor guards prepare for the arrival of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (Photo by Jade Gao/Pool Photo via AP Photo)

An Iraqi military vehicle passes displaced Iraqi boys returning to their homes in West Mosul's Oreibi neighbourhood after government forces retook control of the area from the Islamic State (IS) group during the ongoing offensive against the jihadists on May 21, 2017. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)

“This city in Bolivia's highlands has hired Aymara women dressed in traditional multilayered Andean skirts and brightly embroidered vests to work as traffic cops and bring order to its road chaos. About 20 of the “traffic cholitas” have been trained to direct cars and buses in El Alto, a teeming, impoverished sister city of La Paz in Bolivia's Andes mountains”. – El Alto via Associated Press. Photo: In this December 3, 2013 photo, an Aymara woman cops directs traffic on the streets of El Alto, Bolivia. The women wear the bright petticoats and shawls of indigenous women in the Andes, called cholitas in Bolivian slang, the main difference being that instead of bowler hats they wear khaki green police-style caps. Some don fluorescent traffic vests. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

Participants wearing East Asian traditional costumes take photos during the 88th annual Hollywood Christmas Parade in Hollywood, Californi​a, USA, 01 December 2019. (Photo by Christian Monterrosa/EPA/EFE)

A woman reacts during the annual tomato fight fiesta called “Tomatina”, tomato fight fiesta, in the village of Bunol near Valencia, Spain, Wednesday, August 30, 2023. Thousands gather in this eastern Spanish town for the annual street tomato battle that leaves the streets and participants drenched in red pulp from 120,000 kilos of tomatoes. (Photo by Alberto Saiz/AP Photo)

The Chilean ship “Skorpios II” is seen after it ran aground in “Maillen” island, near Puerto Montt, south of Santiago, in this handout picture from the Chilean Navy, February 5, 2015. According to the Chilean Navy, the ship's 89 passengers and 31 crew members were all evacuated and no oil spills or casualties were reported. (Photo by Reuters/Chilean Navy)