To apply time-varying port-controlled Hamiltonian (PCH) systems to practical control designs, two basic problems should be dealt with: one is how to provide such time-varying systems a geometric structure to guarantee the completeness of representations in mathematics; and the other is how to express the practical system under consideration as a time-varying PCH system, which is called the dissipative Hamiltonian realization problem. The paper investigates the two basic problems. A suitable geometric structure for time-varying PCH systems is proposed first. Then the dissipative realization problem of time-varying nonlinear systems is investigated, and serval new methods and sufficient conditions are presented for the realization. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.