The (Digital) Majesty of All Under Heaven: Affective Constitutive Rhetoric at the Hong Kong Museum of History's Exhibition of Terracotta Warriors

During a series of protests in Hong Kong about a leadership transition widely perceived to give Mainland China greater political influence, the Hong Kong Museum of History held a Special Exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors of Xian, China. Sponsored by “The Leisure and Cultural Service Department,” the exhibit featured the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty who ushered in “an epoch-making era in Chinese history that witnessed the unification of China” (Museum Exhibition). This paper explores the multi-media aspects of the exhibit, arguing that moving images, dramatic music and fully immersive digital experiences produce an embodied, affective form of constitutive rhetoric. Put differently, the museum’s multi-media elements offer an opportunity to demonstrate how Maurice Charland’s theory of a constitutive rhetoric can be informed by recent work on affect and how multi-media displays can perform the “affective dimension of politics.”