Albert Yeung was born in Hong Kong in 1943 and traces his root to Teochew (Chaozhou), Guangdong, China. His Father, Mr Yeung Shing, opened a watch shop named "Shing On Kee Watch Shop" in 1942, setting the Business foundation. In the 1960s his Father lent him 200,000 yuan to start his watch Business. In 1964, he opened his own watch shop, "Observatory Watch & Jewelery" on Nathan Road, Kowloon.
Two years after he opened his first shop, he obtained the distribution rights of Rolex and Omega watches and expanded his Business to jewellery in 1966 and later on to other ventures. He was soon successful and became known as the "King of clocks and watches" (鐘錶大王).
On 10 February 1979, jockey Tony Cruz (Chinese: 告東尼), his brother and two other persons had an argument in a car park in the New Territories with Wai Kin-bong, who was knocked unconscious and hospitalised until 28 February. Wai was then Director and general manager of Tin Tin Daily News. The paper's owner Lau Tin-chau asked Yeung, a Common friend of both Cruz and Wai, to try to resolve the tension between the two. Yeung visited Wai in hospital and offered him a "very substantial sum" of money either "not to give evidence against Mr. Cruz or to give evidence that would not 'nail him down'". Remarkably, in circumstances where the magistrate found that Yeung had promised Wai he would "fix the police", Cruz was never charged. Yeung was convicted of perverting the course of justice and ultimately sentenced to nine months' imprisonment.
In 1986, Yeung was convicted of operating an illegal bookmaking syndicate and fined $50,000.
After a ten-day trial, on 8 June 1998, High Court judge Mr Justice Burrell, sitting as the Chairman of the Insider Dealing Tribunal together with two members, found Yeung culpable of insider dealing in shares of his listed Emperor (China Concept) Investments Ltd in October 1993. He was ordered to pay a total of HK$20,693,433 in fines and costs.
Yeung's charity works in Hong Kong include "Business Community Relief Fund for Victims of SARS" in 2003, "Together we care, Love for South Asia" Charity Show in 2005, "Walk for Hospice" in 2009 and "A Feast of Tastes 2010". The beneficiaries included The Community Chest, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, World Vision of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Red Cross, the Socitey for the Promotion of Hospice Care and St. James' Settlement.
In 2007, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China, Yeung contributed more than HKD 4 million to the official celebration event "Harbour Extravaganza", a firework display and gala dinner. He has been making donations to various foundations in China amounting to nearly HKD 200 million. His donations have helped to set up "Tung Wah Group Yeung Sing Memorial Long Stay Care Home" (1998), the "Jackie Chan and Albert Yeung Charity Foundation Baoding Child Care Centre" (2004), the "Hubei Hong Kong Emperor Elderly Care Centre", the "Jackie Chan and Albert Yeung Charity Foundation Baoding Elderly Care Centre" (2006), the "Albert Yeung Sau Shing Charity Foundation (Shunping) Elderly Care Centre" (2009) and the "Albert Yeung Sau Shing Charity Foundation (Xiongzhou) Elderly Care Centre" (2010). He funded hospice services in Hubei, which made him win "The Most Influential Charity Project Nomination Award" in 2007.
Cash awards totalling over RMB 10 million were also granted to Chinese gold medalists of 2008 Beijing Olympics.
On 8 August 2011 the South China Morning Post reported that Yeung had filed a writ for defamation against Google in the Hong Kong High Court on the grounds that it links to sites making libellous accusations against him.
In addition to setting up "Emperor Foundation Scholarship" for seven tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, Yeung has made donations to education funds in China, including the "Ministry of Justice, PRC Education Fund", the "China University of Political Science and Law – C.U.P.L. Mr Albert Yeung Education Fund", the "Peking University Education Foundation" and "Xiamen Education Fund" for students with top academic achievements or underprivileged background. He also invested and donated RMB 30 million to establish "Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, Fudan University – The Emperor School of Performing Arts" to cultivate new talents in China.
