Chinese Hackers Infiltrate New York Times Computers
nytimes.com - 
For the last four months, Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees.
After surreptitiously tracking the intruders to study their movements and help erect better defenses to block them, The Times and computer security experts have expelled the attackers and kept them from breaking back in.
The timing of the attacks coincided with the reporting for a Times investigation, published online on Oct. 25, that found that the relatives of Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister, had accumulated a fortune worth several billion dollars through business dealings.
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My guess is these are 20 something dudes with masters degrees in computer science. They would be the equivalent to the Chinese version of Anonymous - not the professional hackers that you don't read about in the papers. They are the ones that steal company trade secrets and appear on classified government documents.
"Not the professional hackers that you don't read about in the papers" ?
I think it's all but a certainty that these are federal level hackers, not anything like Anonymous. Anonymous has a mandate of anarchy, of bringing down hierarchical power structures. Hacking into the NYTs looking for sources for a report on Wen Jiabao obviously doesn't benefit anyone other than the people the report hurt/insulted.
I read the other article you posted online and it is strange about the 8am - 5pm time frame that these hacks have occurred. That does give it a feel that someone is getting paid to do this. But I really don't think that Xi Jinping would allow this to happen under his watch.