In 2003, during her last period of freedom, Suu Kyi traveled in northern Myanmar, where large numbers of people gathered to see her. At one stop, she climbed atop a firetruck to face down police and firefighters who planned to turn water hoses on the crowd.

Later, government-backed thugs armed with clubs and sharpened bamboo sticks attacked her motorcade outside the village of Dipeyin. Some believe the assault was an assassination attempt.

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Suu Kyi's bodyguards and supporters fended off the attackers and saved her by shielding her with their bodies. The government says four people died in the attack; the opposition says the toll may have reached 200. Suu Kyi suffered minor injuries.

Soon after, the regime arrested the charismatic leader for the third time, saying it was for her own protection.

While Suu Kyi has gained global fame, the dictatorship that locked her up remains something of a mystery. Than Shwe, 74, who assumed power at the head of a military committee in 1992, prefers to rule from behind the scenes. The junta, previously called the State Law and Order Restoration Council, is now known by the equally Orwellian State Peace and Development Committee.

The general rose to power through the army psychological warfare unit and is reported to love Chinese kung fu movies. He is said to believe in numerology, popular in Myanmar, and rely on his fortuneteller for advice.

The regime promotes the concept of "disciplined democracy," in which the army safeguards the rights of the people and is entitled to a prominent role in government. The regime says it cannot hand power to a civilian administration until it completes its new constitution, now 14 years in the making.

In a country where women are subordinate and respect for elders is paramount, the generals find it especially irritating to be told what to do by the likes of Suu Kyi, diplomats say.

"The officials say she is conceited and condescending because she is so principled and outspoken," said a Western diplomat. "She will say things that senior generals in Burma usually don't hear. There is a fair amount of personal animosity towards her on the part of some of the generals."

Suu Kyi herself is a general's daughter. Her father was assassinated in 1947 at the age of 32. Suu Kyi was 2.

Even as a child, Suu Kyi displayed remarkable determination. She overcame her fear of the dark, she once said, by forcing herself to walk around in the middle of the night.

Her mother, Khin Kyi, was appointed ambassador to India and Suu Kyi attended Catholic high school and college in New Delhi. There she was greatly influenced by the nonviolent philosophy of independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi.

She went on to Oxford University in Britain, where she met and later married Michael Aris, an expert on Tibet. They had two sons and lived a life far removed from the repression of her homeland.

She returned to Myanmar in 1988 to nurse her ailing mother and found herself in the midst of an upheaval. With the economy in a shambles, longtime ruler Ne Win stepped down and demonstrators took to the streets demanding democracy.

In August, troops opened fire on demonstrators in cities across the country. Many of the bodies were dumped in rivers or disappeared. No one knows how many protesters were killed but some estimate at least 3,000. The massacre is remembered by its date: 8/8/88.

Eighteen days later, Suu Kyi spoke at the golden Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon's most important landmark; 100,000 people came to hear Aung San's daughter. She called the fight for democracy the second struggle for national independence, and her speech propelled her to the forefront of the movement.

The military regime placed her under house arrest in 1989 without charges or trial. Even so, her party swept the elections the following year, stunning the generals, who had expected pro-military parties to win.

Suu Kyi was freed in 1995 and invited to leave the country, but she refused, knowing she would not be allowed to return. She understood she was being forced to choose between her family and her country. A longtime friend says she told her husband, "Consider me dead."

She last saw Aris in 1996, when he was allowed to visit. As he was dying of cancer in 1999, the regime refused to let him enter the country in the hope that she would leave to see him.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on Myanmar in 1991, but China, India, Thailand and Singapore continue to do business here.