[2] Hu was born into poverty in Xiahuo Village (下霍村) of Zhangzi County, Shanxi, in October 1937, after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out.
In 1958 he was accepted to the newly established Vestibule School of Coal, which was attached to Lu'an Bureau of Mines (潞安矿务局), and he joined the Chinese Communist Party in the next year.
In 1988 he was appointed vice-minister of Energy, he concurrently served as general manager and party branch secretary of China Unified distribution Coal Mine Corporation, a state-owned company.
In September of that year, he was promoted to party chief of Shanxi, the top political position in the province, where he served until June 1999.
During his term in office, he focused on energy alternatives, water development and conservation, the environment, education, economic development, he also undertook major improvements to the province's infrastructure, and supervised the construction of Taiyuan-Jiuguan Expressway, Taiyuan Wusu International Airport, and Taiyuan railway station.
In June 1999, Hu was transferred to Beijing again and was appointed as deputy director of the Department for Poverty Alleviation of the State Council, a position at ministerial level.
He is also the party chief and chairman of the board of Nanfeng Chemical Industry Share Holding Co., Ltd (南风化工集团股份有限公司), which headquartered in Yuncheng, Shanxi province.