Defying an order to stay indoors, Potter, who is now a professor at the University of British Columbia, said witnessing the crackdown was terrifying. He observed tanks and soldiers who looked "serious and intimidating" from an overpass near the square.

Wednesday marked the 25th anniversary of the massacre, but for many in China, the day might be best un-remembered. And for MSU students from China, who make up almost 10 percent of the undergraduate population, the event is not widely discussed.

Several Chinese MSU students, when approached to comment on the events in Tiananmen Square, either declined to be interviewed or claimed ignorance about the events.

But Potter said while discussions of the events in Tiananmen Square are widely stifled, many are aware of what occurred.

"They actually know more about it than they are prepared to talk about," Potter said. “It’s sort of like a family secret that everybody knows about but nobody can talk about.”

He said many Chinese studying abroad still have reservations about discussing the movement because they may have relatives vulnerable to government retaliation.

Environmental geosciences senior Ge Zhang said she is not fully aware of what the day commemorates or the events of June 4th, 1989.

She said she was more knowledgeable about the tragedy once she came to the United States.

“The biggest difference is here there is more freedom to say what you want,” Zhang said.

She said many of the people in China who are not readily exposed to media, such as those who live in the countryside, are easy to take the government at its word.

“I was taught (to love) the government,” Zhang said. “As I grew up, I realized which (facts are) true and which (are) not.”

Potter said public discussion of the events, also known as the ‘89 Democracy Movement, is widely stifled within China.

History professor at the University of California Irvine Jeffrey Wasserstrom said it is not uncommon for the world's youth to have a skewed or incomplete view of events in their own country's histories. But he said there's a difference between an imperfect understanding and purposeful attempts to erase an entire event from China’s history.

“What’s unusual is how much effort the Chinese government has put into erasing it,” Wasserstrom said.

Though, Wasserstrom said students who study abroad in North America are curious to know information they were previously not entitled to.

While the day was met with a mix of silent, inward remembrance and vocal, candlelit commemoration outside of China, Potter said it is important to remember what those students were standing for in Tiananmen Square.

“A public discussion of this would be a way to bring closure for an event that is still very painful,” Potter said.