Shoe incident gave Wen's mother haemorrhage

The Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has revealed that his mother suffered a brain haemorrhage last year when she watched television footage of a student throwing a shoe at him during a visit to Cambridge University.

"She still has difficulties in walking,” Mr Wen said during an online chat over the weekend. His mother Yang Xiulan, a former schoolteacher, who is in her late 80s, has suffered problems with her vision, he said.

In February 2008, a 27-year-old German student named Martin Jahnke, blew a whistle and threw a trainer at Mr Wen as he was giving a speech in the concert hall of Cambridge University.

The Chinese prime minister, popularly known as “Grandpa Wen”, said he would pass on the well wishes of the online community to his mother.