She has received her Ph.D in linguistics from Beijing Language and Culture University. She worked as a researcher from 2012 to 2013 with Prof. Mark Turner at Department of Cognitive Science, Case Western Reserve University, USA. For the past 10 years, Dr. Hu has worked on two areas of study: discourse approach to academic writing and testing; cognitive-functional approach to modality and metaphor. She has been the author of more than ten journal articles.