China.
The Silk Road is a trading route from the Middle East to China, and the ancient civilizaitons practiced ancestor worship. The Mandate of Heaven dictates that good weather and general prosperity are because of divine approval of the leader of China. If there is famine, invasion, or other natural disasters, it was interpreted as needing a new ruler, aka losing the mandate of heaven.
Because she is going to school exactly at 9 a.m.
First sentence is the central idea
It allows readers their own vantage point, their own seat high above the chaos and cruelty of the novel. the characters fall further and further into madness, but you never do. You get to see the boys for what they truly are: scared little kids left without adult supervision for far too long..