857

What does 857 mean?

Say 857 in a Chinese group chat and it calls up the beat of a nightclub. The number is chanted in a dance track that went viral through short videos, so it now works as a verb of sorts: to 857 is to go out, turn the volume up and dance until you are soaked in sweat. When clubs closed in early 2020, it turned into the rallying cry of cloud clubbing, with DJs streaming sets from their living rooms and viewers dancing along at home.

Where does 857 come from?

The digits come from a hard-driving club remix whose vocal counts the beat as 857, a track that spread through short-video dance challenges. It crossed from nightclubs into daily talk in 2019, and peaked in February 2020 when lockdowns pushed nightlife online; the news portal 海峡网 covered the cloud clubbing wave on February 11, 2020. The DJ behind the original recording is disputed online, but what stuck is the number as a synonym for the dance floor itself.

How to use 857

• 深夜的直播间开着云蹦迪，弹幕刷满857，他戴着耳机在客厅跳了一小时。
  Shēnyè de zhíbōjiān kāizhe yún bèngdí, dànmù shuā mǎn 857, tā dàizhe ěrjī zài kètīng tiàole yī xiǎoshí.
  A livestream was hosting cloud clubbing late at night, the comments were wall-to-wall 857, and he danced alone in his living room with headphones on for an hour.
• 聚餐结束去KTV，朋友一放857就跳起来，我坐在沙发上负责录像。
  Jùcān jiéshù qù KTV, péngyou yī fàng 857 jiù tiào qǐlái, wǒ zuò zài shāfā shàng fùzé lùxiàng.
  After dinner the group moved to a karaoke room; the moment 857 came on, my friends jumped up, and I stayed on the sofa filming them.