Growing up in Shijiazhuang, a city 1.5 hours by high-speed train from Beijing, China, Ningyi has built lives in Brazil, Singapore, the Central African Republic, and now the U.S. Always curious about people, she followed a Chinese construction manager in Bangui, the capital of the conflict-torn Central African Republic, and directed and co-produced her debut feature documentary, Eat Bitter. The film premiered at CPH:DOX in 2023 and went on to screen at over 50 festivals worldwide. It won Best Documentary Feature at Visioni dal Mondo and received a Special Mention at the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival. Ningyi was named Emerging Documentary Director at the 47th Asian American International Film Festival, with the film distributed to the BBC and American Airlines.

She is currently developing her first narrative feature, A.M.P., with a proof-of-concept short set to begin its festival circuit in 2025. The feature script was a quarter-finalist in the 2024 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting and advanced to the second round of the 2025 Sundance Development Track.

Before becoming a filmmaker, Ningyi worked with the United Nations peace operation in the Central African Republic.