Objective The contemporary practice of conservation, restoration and construction of traditional gardens presents a closed-loop system based on multiple values, but the contemporaneity of the process of conservation practice diversity hasn’t been fully explored. In particular, how to define “traditional gardens” and their situation in the contemporary era, and how to carry out the academic research, conservation and restoration as well as contemporary translation of traditional gardens in the contemporary era are important theoretical topics in the process of modernization of traditional Chinese gardens. Based on Agamben’s definition of contemporaneity and several characteristics of contemporaneity, this research examines the basic characteristics of Chen Congzhou’ s personal academic research and construction practice in the process of contemporary Chinese garden construction, so as to construct an analytical framework for the contemporaneity of Chen Congzhou’s garden construction.

Methods The construction of this analytical framework is based on the systematic understanding of the rich layers of historical situation, practical environment and theoretical context of Chen Congzhou’s garden construction, as well as the actual academic evolution of Chen Congzhou’ s garden construction at different stages of development, and analyzes the correlation between his theoretical thinking and personal practice of garden construction and the contemporary problems and even crises of traditional gardens through the establishment of chronology, classification of construction practice and intensive reading of theoretical writings. In this way, the problem of contemporaneity in Chen Congzhou’s practice of conservation, restoration and construction of traditional gardens is revealed, that is, the possibility and feasible ways of survival, conservation and translation of traditional Chinese gardens in the contemporary era, followed by relevant theoretical analysis and summary.

Results This research argues that Chen Congzhou’s garden construction shows typical contemporaneity characteristics, not only because he is well versed in the essence of traditional Chinese garden culture, but also because he has a deep criticism and reflection on the contemporaneity situation of traditional gardens, and he establishes a close connection between the contemporaneity and traditionality of garden construction based on his personal academic research, construction practice, and theoretical elaboration. Therefore, taking the contemporaneity of traditional gardens constructed by Chen Congzhou in his garden construction practice as a typical sample, the research constructs a universal analytical framework for contemporaneity of traditional garden construction, and analyzes the basic connotation of contemporaneity of traditional garden construction.

Conclusion The research concludes that the contemporaneity of Chen Congzhou’s garden construction is an open theoretical framework, whose basic ideological connotation points to the crisis thinking of the contemporaneity of traditional gardens, and is manifested as multiple responses to the problem of contemporaneity in the garden construction practice of Chen Congzhou.