Yes, I am behind the bamboo curtain. I have checked with a number of other hosting services and they all honestly suggested that I try Alibaba (in Hong Kong) to have the best speed "possible". I thought that was very nice and honest of them. On the other hand, maybe they are trying to save themselves for a huge headache from complaints? 
I searched and only found two mentions of Alibaba, content not immediately relevant to me. Customer service is not very responsive - if I had other choices, I would not be posting here now but would be looking at other hosting options. Does anyone know if I would have to install all of these goodies myself from scratch: PHP 7.1, MariaDB 5.5.31 or MySQL 5.6 or Postgres 9.4 or MSSQL 2008 or Oracle 11.2? I have been spoiled with Bluehost, which I have used for years, and these things install with a click of an icon if they are not already installed. I have installed Moodle "from scratch". I guess I could do the rest of them, but it is a bit intimidating at first. Bluehost is just too slow when accessed from here.
A little terrified.
