The Anning River has its source is the southern Xiaoxiang Range in Mianning County, Liangshan.

Continuing south, the Anning River Plain widens and provides for greater human activity.

The capital of Liangshan, Xichang, is located at the widest extent of the valley to the east of the river.

The plain, and in fact the entire Anning River's course, follows the tectonically active Anninghe Fault where a southeastern portion of the Tibetan Plateau abuts the Yangtze Plate.

In the last 3,000 years, the Anning River basin developed as the heartland for the Yi People who migrated from the Tibetan Plateau and supplanted or assimilated with the original inhabitants.