The official emblem of the Games was unveiled at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on November 26, 2006, to prepare the city to succeed Doha 2006 as the Asian Games host city. It is a stylized representation of Guangzhou's "Statue of the Five Goats" (Chinese: 五羊雕像; pinyin: Wǔ yáng diāoxiàng) fused with a running track. The goat, in Chinese tradition, is a blessing and brings people luck while the host city Guangzhou is known as the "City of Goats". The orange and yellow emblem also resembles a flame.

The mascots of the Games were the five sporty rams. They were unveiled on April 28, 2008 at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention and Exhibition Center. The five rams, including four small with one large, were named– A Xiang (祥), A He (和), A Ru (如), A Yi (意) and Le Yangyang (樂洋洋). The Chinese character "yang," or "goat," is an auspicious symbol because, when read together, the Chinese names of the five rams are a message of blessing, literally meaning "harmony, blessings, success and happiness" (祥和如意樂洋洋).