Yung was born in Shanghai to businessman Rong Yiren, who later became the vice President of China during the 1990s. He graduated from Shanghai Nanyang Model High School in 1959 and went on to Tianjin University, where he majored in electronic engineering. Yung's uncle, Paul, elder brother of Yiren, died with 34 others in Hong Kong's worst air disaster on Basalt Island on 21 December 1948.

When the Cultural Revolution started, because of his capitalist background, Rong Yiren was exiled to Liangshan, in Sichuan, in 1966. After the turbulent years, he became associated with Deng Xiaoping and was later appointed Vice-President of the People's Republic of China. His family's ties to the Communist Party of China earned him the nickname "the Red Capitalist." With the support of the Chinese government and its capital, son Larry moved to Hong Kong and started businesses with the Chinese government as major shareholder, becoming wealthy in the process.

In 2007, Yung was reported to have joined the ranks of real estate speculators in Shanghai with an investment of more than one billion RMB. In 2009, having left CITIC, he established Yung's Enterprise Holdings to pursue this line of Business.

In 1990, Yung became chairman of CITIC Pacific, an arm of his father's company CITIC Group. He continued his work at the company until the Foreign exchange losses controversy led to his resignation on 8 April 2009.