At the 11th EAGA Council Meeting held in Guam in March 1996, Macau, then a Portuguese colony was awarded the right and honour to host the 4th East Asian Games.

[1] The official emblem is the swirling pattern image of five Olympic colours blue, black, red, yellow and green which represents the Five Elements - Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth as well as Macau as a new era multi-cultural city that fuse the Western and Eastern culture in the East Asian region with strong global influence.

The official mascot is "Pak Pak" the squirrel which comes from Guia Hill, a place in Macau which has a lot of fir trees and is the site of the oldest lighthouse on the China coast - the Guia Lighthouse.

The official theme song is "We Will Shine" which represents the value and meaning of persistence, sacrifice and pain and the dreams of the athletes and the celebration of the games as part of life.

[3] The 2005 East Asian Games featured events in 17 sports, which was a new high for the competition.