What: It's the fourth edition of East Asia's mini-Olympic Games, held every four years. When: October 29 to November 6. Where: 12 venues in three areas: Macau Peninsula, Macau Olympic Sports Complex (Taipa) and Cotai International Sports Complex. Who: The nine competing countries and regions are: China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Guam, Mongolia and Macau. How many: More than 6,500 people - 3,500 athletes, officials and staff, 1,500 media, 1,000 guests, and 500 technical officials. Not to mention thousands of volunteers. Why: To try to win one of the 731 medals from the 234 events in 17 sports. MILESTONES TOWARDS MACAU 2005 1996 - Macau is awarded the fourth East Asian Games at the 11th EAG Association council meeting in Guam in March - an important moment in the sporting history of the Portuguese enclave. 1999 - The Macau Special Administrative Region is established on December 20, and the government gives its full support to the games. 2000 - Preparations begin in earnest following the creation of the Macau 2005 EAG Co-ordination Office in July. 2002 - On January 1, the co-ordination office is replaced by the Macau East Asian Games Organising Committee (Meagoc), 100 per cent funded by the government to plan and promote a successful regional, multi-sport event.