Operated by SMRT Trains, the station serves the eponymous Chinese Garden and the Yuhua residential estate.

When it opened, the station lacked direct access to Chinese Garden despite being next to it, as well as to the opposite side of the road where most of its commuters lived.

As a feature of the station, the curved roof supported by decorative red and green beams took inspiration from traditional Chinese architecture.

Additionally, there are four paintings created by students from the Yuan Ching Secondary School that feature traditional Chinese cultural icons, which are displayed at the ticketing concourse as part of SMRT's Community Outreach Programme.

[8] Several joint ventures between companies were prequalified for Contract 404 by May 1985,[c] which detailed the construction of a viaduct from Jurong to Lakeside stations, including Chinese Garden.

[11] The subcontract for the supply of post-tension cables and pre-cast beams for the viaducts was awarded to Swiss-Singaporean company VSL Systems in July 1986[12] while the design of the station's Chinese-style roof was awarded to Parson Brinckerhoff Asia Ltd and Maunsell Consultants in September 1985 as a part of a S$3.6 million (US$1.64 million) contract to give the Phase II MRT stations an "ethnic touch".

[19] To solve the problem, the owners of the garden, the Jurong Town Corporation, devised a plan divided into two phases.

The first phase is the construction of a 250 metres (270 yd) concrete footpath as well as a temporary timber footbridge and garden entrance.

Even though a S$200,000 (US$99,382.59) overhead bridge was to be built by April of the next year, the lack of thought for pedestrian safety was criticised by some residents and commuters.

[21] In 2008, the LTA announced an accessibility enhancement programme for ten stations, including Chinese Garden.

Following a rise in track intrusions as well as commuters slipping when rushing for the train, the LTA and SMRT decided to install platform screen doors.