Born in 1945, Hu entered the Central Academy of Fine Art (Beijing) at the early age of 15 to study traditional painting. Soon after his graduation, the talented young artist found himself working as an art director at Shanghai Animation Studios where he developed his unique sensibility of formal aesthetics. In 1985, Hu left the field of media production and took up a teaching position in Shanghai University's College of Fine Art. Leaving China in 1988 when contemporary artists were slavishly emulating Western pop art and Cubism, he moved to Hong Kong in search of an alternative vision. Four years later, while he had newly emigrated to the United States where he was granted the right of permanent residence with his outstanding expertise in art, his interest lay not in his new home, but back in the Far East. This fascination with the East took on a new visual excitement when he visited Bali for the first time in 1995, an experience which continues to influence his work today.

In the last decade, Hu Yong Kai has had over twenty solo exhibitions in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Chicago, Los Angeles, Taos in New Mexico, Tokyo, Leverkusen in Germany, Singapore as well as other cities worldwide. He has participated in numerous art expositions in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore, and garnered several awards and prizes to his name. His works are kept in the collections of China's National Museum of Fine Art (Beijing), Shanghai Art Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of Art and Hong Kong Cultural Museum, amongst a world following of private collectors.