Hu was born in Changsha, Hunan. He graduated from the Fine Arts Department of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts with bachelor’s and masters degrees, and received his Ph.D. from Chinese National Academy of Arts. He worked in the editorial department of the Guangdong Art Museum, the office of the Guangzhou Triennial, the art history department of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, and is currently the executive deputy director of the Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and a professor of art management department.

His research interests include the history of Chinese revolutionary art and the history of modern and contemporary Chinese art exhibitions. He has long been engaged in the criticism and curatorial pracrtice in contemporary art. Recent exhibitions include Institution Production: Ecology Investigation of Contemporary Art of Young Guangzhou Artists (Guangdong Museum of Art), Capillaries of the Field: 2016 Exhibition of Art Institutions from the Pearl River Delta (Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts), The Standpoint of Seeing: Wang Zhaomin, Guo Shaogang, Feng Jianxin and the Exploration of New Chinese Artistic Modeling (Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts), The Voice of Troubadour: The Exhibition of Artistic Research on Huang Xinbo (Art Museum of Beijing Fine Academy), The Ecstasy of Time: Reframing the Medium of Knowing (He Xiangning Art Museum), The One Beyond the Ordinary: Classic Works of Li Tiefu (Art museum of Beijing Fine Academy), Hot Flows: Pearl River Delta Arts Retrospective in Guangzhou (Ucity Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts), etc. The exhibitions he curated have received the honor of Excellent Project of National Art Museum Collection from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and won the Excellent Exhibition Project of National Art Museum.His publications include, Visual Reformation: the Selectional Interpretation of Chinese Fine Arts in 20th Century, What Best Represents China? The Display of China and its National Image in World Expositions, etc.