Hu was an actress in the Modern Drama Troupe of the General Political Division of the People's Liberation Army. Her father was a conductor and mother was a singer. Hu was trained to play the piano from a very young age.[3] When the Beijing Film Academy reopened in 1978, she enrolled for the directing class under her father's encouragement.
After graduation in 1982, she was assigned to the Bayi Film Studio. In 1984, she made her first film Women's Chamber (女儿楼, Nü'er Lou). Two years later, her film Times Away from War (远离战争的年代, Yuanli Zhanzheng de Niandai), which is said to be the first Chinese psychological film, won her a number of international awards.[3]
Hu nearly went to France to pursue a Ph.D. in film, but abandoned the idea at the last minute.[4] She spent nearly ten years shooting television commercials. She also started directing more commercialized films. Yongzheng Dynasty was her first major successful television series. Since then, she is considered a top-tiered television series director in China.
