I recall the Economist ran a photo of a dead Chinese slumped against the wall wearing a spotlessly clean soldier's jacket and cap. Thus the deception began almost at the moment of the massacre.
Well, I got most of my info from Chinese students in the U.S. when the massacre happened; they kept up with info from home as events unfolded.
For some months afterward no new Chinese students arrived to study in the U.S. When arrivals resumed the visas were very restrictive, the new students had a very different ideological bent, they kept in close contact with their embassy, and they all claimed (usually with a smile) that nothing had happened in the Square - one of these even claimed he had been there.