During the morning hours of a day in early February, zealous investors lined up at the Zhongtou Exchange to use the hall's computers to turn their investment potions into stock market magic.

Those who weren't lined up clustered into small intermingling groups to trade tidbits of the latest stock market news.

Many investors, such as 68-year-old Wang Guowen, were silver-haired.

Winners are grinners and this woman, like many small-time investors, enjoys watching her rising shares at the stock market in Nanjing of East China's Jiangsu Province. [China Daily]

Wang appeared especially confident, because the seafood company retiree relies on the advice of a dependable thinktank his daugter. Most mornings, she calls him from the United States with investment advice. If she doesn't, he stays home.

With the Chinese stock market undergoing one of its most bullish booms over the past year, throngs of Chinese have been lured into the risky business. Some put their life savings on the line, but increasingly, they are finding that not all that glitters is gold.

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