He was in charge of the early phase development for the Dong Fang Hong I, China's first artificial satellite.
Hu graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, and his academic advisor was Chien Wei-zang.
After graduation, Hu joined the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing, which was mainly founded by Tsien Hsue-shen in 1950s.
Hu mainly generalized some versatile variational principles especially in elastic mechanics and promoted their corresponding applications such as in the spacecraft system design.
He was also the Honorary Director of the Science and Technology Commission of the Department of Spacecraft System Design.