Fifteen years ago, Fang Hongin was protesting in Tienanmen Square.

Debates over possible constitutional amendments intended to pacify angry Sunnis and to de fang the insurgency are likely to incite factional hostility as well.

Indeed, 23 years after dissident Fang Lizhi took refuge in the US embassy following the crackdown in Tiananmen Square, Chen s only option was to take the same last gasp leap into the arms of American diplomats.