Note: This post has been changed since it was first published. See below.

After wreaking havoc on the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year, the global hacker group Anonymous appears to have turned its attention to one of the U.S.'s largest trading partners.

A handful of local Chinese government websites and several dozen websites belonging to Chinese companies and other groups appear to have been compromised over the past few days, many of them defaced with a message, accompanied by The Who's "Baba O'Riley," saying the sites were hacked by Anonymous.

"Dear Chinese government, you are not infallible, today websites are hacked, tomorrow it will be your vile regime that will fall," the message read in English. "So expect us because we do not forgive, never. What you are doing today to your Great People, tomorrow will be inflicted to you. With no mercy."

The hacks were announced on March 30 on a Twitter feed, @AnonymousChina, and through a list posted to the programmer website Pastebin.

Government-owned websites targeted by the group include those belonging to the Central Business District in Chengdu and the Qingniwaqiao sub-district office in the city of Dalian, both of which were still displaying the Anonymous message on Wednesday.

Also hacked, according to the list, were three other sites belonging to lower-level government agencies in the cities of Taizhou, Zhongshan and Jiazhou. All three sites appeared to be broken Wednesday.

None of the main central government websites displayed any obvious signs of having being hacked.

In addition to predicting the downfall of the Chinese government, the message posted on the defaced websites also claimed sympathy with the Chinese people: "Each of you suffers from the tyranny of that regime which knows nothing about you. We are with you," the message said, providing a link to a page of tips hosted on the hacked sites' servers on how to circumvent China's Internet controls.

This is not the first time a branch of Anonymous has taken aim at a Chinese target. In September, an offshoot of the group dedicated to exposing corporate fraud, Anonymous Analytics, released a document accusing Chinese fruit and vegetable producer Chaoda Modern Agriculture (Holdings) Ltd. of "deceit and open corporate fraud." That attack, however, did not appear to involve the hacking or defacement of any websites. Chaoda later released a statement saying it was delaying the release of its annual results in order to implement additional audit procedures following the release of the group's report.

It wasn't clear why Anonymous chose this particular moment to launch a campaign against the Chinese government and why it didn't hack higher-profile websites. Also puzzling was the group's nearly exclusive use of English in a campaign ostensibly intended to appeal to a Chinese audience.

While the Anonymous China Twitter feed provides a link to a statement that has been translated into Chinese, the vast majority of the group's messages – including the statement on the defaced website, the tips for avoiding Internet controls and the Twitter feed itself – are in English.

China's Foreign Ministry could not be reached for comment Wednesday, a holiday. An email requesting comment sent to an address listed on the Anonymous China Twitter feed did not get an immediate response.

CORRECTION: China is the U.S.'s second-largest trading partner after Canada. An earlier version of this post mistakenly identified it as the U.S.'s largest trading partner. Thanks to a reader for pointing out the error.

-- Josh Chin. Follow him on Twitter @joshchin

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