So, combining these two statements, it seems that they blocked both sites 30 minutes before the article was posted in Chinese?

If that's true, it's disappointing the Times didn't do a simultaneous release in anticipation of the block.

"HONG KONG — The Chinese government swiftly blocked access Friday morning to the English-language and Chinese-language Web sites of The New York Times"

"By 7 a.m. Friday in China, access to both the English- and Chinese-language Web sites of The Times was blocked (...). The Times had posted the article in English at 4:34 p.m. on Thursday in New York (4:34 a.m. Friday in Beijing), and finished posting the article in Chinese three hours later after the translation of final edits to the English-language version."