Strategic competence, as a meta-cognitive ability, determines the other translation sub-competences. To tease out how students' strategic competence is developed in translation project is significant in enlightening the translation teaching practice. This study explores how five Chinese college students' translation competence, particularly their strategic competence, develop within a translation project introduced into the translation teaching of the authors' institute. Strategic competence includes four parts: problem identification, solution proposal, action taking, and decision making. By examining both the translation process and the translation product, including translation tasks, translation logs, group discussions, and interviews from five student translators, we found that the overall translation competence of the student translators has significantly improved. The development of various elements of strategic ability is uneven, with the abilities to identify problems, evaluate issues, and take measures showing the most significant improvement. However, there is a lag in decision-making capabilities in translation output. Based on these findings, the study provides concrete suggestions for improving the teaching of translation.