This article documents an ongoing study of educational policy enactment in a Chinese university. Drawing upon data collected through document analysis, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations, this paper argues that the enactment of China's systemic College English curriculum reform is not a matter of simple implementation but the result of a more complex process which may change the original reform intention. It suggests that the enactment of centralised reform is mediated through an interplay of forces and challenges and that the major impetus for how teachers make sense of and enact reform relates more to the strength of their current values and practices and students' feedback, rather than the power of external initiatives. Without localised management, curriculum reform itself is, therefore, insufficient to ensure change in practice.