The land area of the entire county-level city of Ning'an is 7,870 km2 (3,040 sq mi); the reported population count, as of 2004, stood at 440,000.

[1] Notable geographic features of the county-level city of Ning'an include Lake Jingpo and a crater underground forest (火山口地下森林).

Lake Jingpo is a natural reservoir on the Mudanjiang River upstream (about 40 km or 25 mi southwest, straight-line distance) from Ning'an central urban area, result of the volcanic eruptions about 10,000 years ago.

[4] After the Manchus conquered all of China in 1644, the Ningguta area continued to be considered by the Qing dynasty ruling family as the place of its origin.

[6] In June 1653 Sarhuda's position became styled "military deputy-lieutenant governor" (昂邦章京, or amban-jianggin in Manchu)[7][8] and a deputy lieutenant general (副都統; fù dūtǒng) were appointed to command the Ningguta garrison.

Early on, a great dockyard operated in Ningguta, building boats for the Mudanjiang/Sungari/Amur river system, although it was later relocated to Jilin City.

That site is located near the present-day Gucheng village (古城村), part of the small town of Changting (长汀镇; 44°29′N 128°55′E / 44.48°N 128.92°E / 44.48; 128.92).

The Deputy Lieutenant-General stationed there was the top government official for the entire region stretching east to the Sea of Japan and populated primarily by a variety of Tungusic peoples, such as the Nanais.

[5][12] According to the evidence of the Jesuits who visited the area in 1709 along with a government-sponsored ginseng-harvesting expedition,[13] by the early 18th century Ningguta had become an important center of trade in local forest products, namely ginseng harvested in the region and sable pelts, collected as tax from the Nanai natives.

[5] There were already numerous peasant villages around the town, some at quite a distance from it, populated both by Manchus and by Han Chinese exiled to this area for various offenses against the law.

(Convicts started being sent to Ningguta area as early as 1660; anti-Qing rebels, captured in southern China, followed in 1661[14]) A variety of cereal crops, such as millet and oats were grown there.

[15] Ning'an is bordered by Muling to the east, Hailin to the west, Wangqing County and Dunhua of Jilin province to the south, and Mudanjiang's urban core to the north.

[15] Ning'an is home to a number of protected animal species, such as the Siberian tiger, sika deer, elk, and sable.