Taking the "Learning to 'tell Chinese's story well'" narrative prevalent in policies as a starting point, this article draws on data collected from a provincial university and delves into the institutional involvement and support in response to the state's international higher education policies. By foregrounding the underlying structures of power and control, I illustrate the mechanisms by which the policy was translated into and implemented through the practice of the hidden curriculum -- an integrated approach of 'listening', 'watching' and 'telling' at the meso level, where international students' aspirations were shaped (or not). This 'implementation study' offers a valuable contribution to the growing scholarship of recent policy studies, especially in the Chinese context, and thus adds to understandings about how the official discourse becomes integral to mid-level institutions' routine and everyday practices and processes. The implications of China's experiences and the direction of further study are discussed.