<p>There is limited research that focuses on the ideological stances of EMI policies at multiple levels, although there has been significant global research on English medium instruction (EMI). Informed by the theoretical concepts of “language ideologies and practices” and “linguistic capital”, this study aims to explore the complex entanglements of language ideologies and practices in EMI at multiple levels of government, university, and international students and teachers in China. Data were collected through policy documents published both by China’s government and the selected university, and semi-structured interviews with a cohort of international students and Chinese EMI teachers. The findings revealed many complex language issues in EMI policy implementation, including the tension between multilingual orientation and monolingual implementation; the discrepancy between monolingual ideology and multilingual practices; the divergent perspectives on English; and the conflicting views about the local language, Chinese. The findings demonstrate the conflicts of policy interpretation and implementation at different levels and challenge the English monolingual ideology in EMI practices. The study contributes valuable insights to current investigations of EMI by highlighting the importance of ideological positions at multiple levels and unpacking the complexity of language issues from linguistic capital and language ideological perspectives of the linguistic reality at the macro, meso, and micro levels.</p>