Ningxia?

Where do the childhood scenes take place? Unless I missed it, Ling Ling's voiceover only indicates that it's a small town. The other clue is that Anhui is 3 hours by train. Did I get that correct?

Netflix says that those scenes take place in Ninxia. The sand dunes might tend towards this location. But Ningxia is very far from Anhui and I never heard it mentioned in the film. And by the way, how come everyone ends up in Beijing?

Can anyone help me on this?

Maybe they're in Sicily.