Wenzhou

Wenzhou is the town where Yuan Feng grows up in China. It is a small town that is outside of any major city; for reference, Meng Long is banished there from the city as punishment for his perceived disloyalty to the government. It is mostly quiet, but the wars still find their way there, and Chunyu's mother is killed in a bombing raid there in the 1940s. It has changed a good deal by the 2010s, where the present day of the novel is set.

Shanghai

The city of Shanghai is where Mei and Chen live once they become successful and high-ranking members of the Communist Party. They invite Chunyu to live there after her stint working in the field hospital. The city is obviously more of a hotbed for activity, political and otherwise, than Wenzhou. Chunyu detects that many of the material conditions of the Communist Party...