孟州韩湘子是韩愈的侄孙（珍藏于水运村韩氏祠堂韩氏族谱为证），生于唐德宗年间（公元794年），30岁中进士，官至唐大理寺丞。从政期间，一身正气，秉公执法，因看不惯朝中的腐败，便弃官从道。传说，韩湘子在家乡期间常为乡亲们排忧解难，深受百姓爱戴。历朝历代的孟州百姓，对韩湘子遗德十分怀念。韩湘子的种种传说，远在明代几位大作家成书之前，就已在百姓中广为流传。现收集整理的韩湘子传说有21篇，这些来源于民间的传说语言生动，内容丰富，故事性和趣味性极强，具有浓郁的地方特色。
     
    韩湘子传说，具有浓厚的生活气息，语言生动，朴实无华，具有较高的文学价值。传说中不少内容具有较高的实用价值，其中对社会生活的演绎，可供今人分析学习借鉴，有的科技知识，可供人今学习运用。
        
    加大对韩湘子传说的挖掘、保护和传播，有利于弘扬中华民族传统美德，鞭挞现实生活中丑恶现象，更好地强化和促进我国社会主义和谐社会的建设。
 
    2009年6月被河南省人民政府公布为第二批省级非物质文化遗产名录。

         
    Han Xiangzi, also called Qingfu, is the nephew of the very famous poet and official Han Yv. It's said that he is one of the eight Taoism Gods, and he is the younger one with a purple-gold bamboo flute in hand. In folk tale, Han is a young man good at playing flute. According to the document, the original name of Han Xiangzi was Han Xiang, who had ever earned high marks in national oriented exam and been a national official in Tang Dynasty. Official historic documents doesn't record that he has ever cultivated himself according to Taoism and become a God. However, in other works, there are some records saying that Han Yv had a nephew who cultivated and became a God. Following people combine these two stories together and became the legend of Hang Xiangzi. 
    
     It's said that Han was born with immortal bones and was sick of the extravagance and dissipated things. He had ever met with two Taoist priests, Lv Dongbin and Zhong Hanli, and learned Taoism doctrines from them. Later, once he fell off from a peach tree when he tried to pick peachs and died and then he became a God. After his becoming God, he tried to cross over his uncle, Han Yv with three famous experiences: help pray for rain snow when the country was extremely dry with his magic arts; create new things with little foundation; predict his uncle's future with two poems written on flower petals. Then, he also crossed over Han Yv several times and he finally became a God, too.