Yong Ho was born and grew up in Nanjing, China. He taught English at a university in China for a number of years before coming to study at Columbia University. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology/ linguistics from Columbia University in 1992. His concentration is in general linguistics, Chinese anthropology and Chinese language.
Yong Ho published a number of books, articles and translations on the teaching of English as a foreign language before he came to the U.S. His publications in the U.S. are mostly on the teaching of the Chinese language.