She received her master's degree in mathematics from Zhejiang University in 1952, under the supervision of Su Buqing.

1956, she began working as a lecturer at Fudan University in Shanghai, later becoming an associate professor and eventually achieving full-time professorship.

In 2002, she was chosen as the Emmy Noether Lecturer for that year's International Congress of Mathematicians in Beijing, China.

[5] Her main academic interests were differential geometry and mathematical physics.

Hu's husband was Gu Chaohao, also a mathematician, who served as the president of University of Science and Technology of China.