As the earliest written record of the story of Mulan replacing her father to join the army, the Ballad of Mulan has not only become widely known and passed down from generation to generation throughout China, but has also attracted the lovers of Chinese literature and culture in anglophone countries to introduced the poem to their culture through translation and adaptation. By the end of 2021, the Ballad of Mulan has had dozens of English reproductions, which, however, have barely been systematically explored. This article therefore first reviews the ballad’s existing English translations and adaptations, then analyses their characteristics and rewriting strategies, and finally looks at the reception of them within the anglophone community. It is found that the renderings, whose genres cover rhyme, free verse, and essay, are mainly presented in four forms, including articles in poem (essay) collections, chapters in monographs, articles in journals or academic journals, and texts in picture books, while the adaptations are mainly categorized into dramas (plays), novels and illustrated books. It is also found that the translations, albeit each distinctive from one another, are generally faithful to the original poem in terms of content, while the adaptations are more like a differentiated “afterlife” created by the adapters. Besides, in contrast to the translations, the adaptations are better accepted and have a wider audience.