@inproceedings{wang-etal-2026-chunqiutr,
title = "{C}hun{Q}iu{TR}: Time-Keyed Temporal Retrieval in Classical {C}hinese Annals",
author = "Wang, Yihao and
He, Zijian and
Ren, Jie and
Wang, Keze",
editor = "Liakata, Maria and
Moreira, Viviane P. and
Zhang, Jiajun and
Jurgens, David",
booktitle = "Findings of the {A}ssociation for {C}omputational {L}inguistics: {ACL} 2026",
month = jul,
year = "2026",
address = "San Diego, California, United States",
publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.612/",
pages = "12578--12601",
ISBN = "979-8-89176-395-1",
abstract = "Retrieval shapes how language models access and cite knowledge in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). In historical research, the goal is often to locate the exact record for a specific regnal month, where temporal alignment matters as much as topical relevance. This is especially challenging for Classical Chinese annals: time is encoded in terse, implicit, non-Gregorian reign phrases that are context-dependent, so semantically plausible evidence can still be temporally invalid. We introduce **ChunQiuTR**, a time-keyed retrieval benchmark built from the **Spring and Autumn Annals** and its exegetical tradition. It organizes records by month-level reign keys and includes chrono-near confounders that mimic real retrieval failures. We propose **CTD** (Calendrical Temporal Dual-encoder), a time-aware dual-encoder combining Fourier-based absolute context with relative offset biasing. Experiments show consistent gains over semantic dual-encoder baselines under time-keyed evaluation. We will release ChunQiuTR and code after the anonymity period."
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<abstract>Retrieval shapes how language models access and cite knowledge in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). In historical research, the goal is often to locate the exact record for a specific regnal month, where temporal alignment matters as much as topical relevance. This is especially challenging for Classical Chinese annals: time is encoded in terse, implicit, non-Gregorian reign phrases that are context-dependent, so semantically plausible evidence can still be temporally invalid. We introduce **ChunQiuTR**, a time-keyed retrieval benchmark built from the **Spring and Autumn Annals** and its exegetical tradition. It organizes records by month-level reign keys and includes chrono-near confounders that mimic real retrieval failures. We propose **CTD** (Calendrical Temporal Dual-encoder), a time-aware dual-encoder combining Fourier-based absolute context with relative offset biasing. Experiments show consistent gains over semantic dual-encoder baselines under time-keyed evaluation. We will release ChunQiuTR and code after the anonymity period.</abstract>
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%0 Conference Proceedings
%T ChunQiuTR: Time-Keyed Temporal Retrieval in Classical Chinese Annals
%A Wang, Yihao
%A He, Zijian
%A Ren, Jie
%A Wang, Keze
%Y Liakata, Maria
%Y Moreira, Viviane P.
%Y Zhang, Jiajun
%Y Jurgens, David
%S Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026
%D 2026
%8 July
%I Association for Computational Linguistics
%C San Diego, California, United States
%@ 979-8-89176-395-1
%F wang-etal-2026-chunqiutr
%X Retrieval shapes how language models access and cite knowledge in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). In historical research, the goal is often to locate the exact record for a specific regnal month, where temporal alignment matters as much as topical relevance. This is especially challenging for Classical Chinese annals: time is encoded in terse, implicit, non-Gregorian reign phrases that are context-dependent, so semantically plausible evidence can still be temporally invalid. We introduce **ChunQiuTR**, a time-keyed retrieval benchmark built from the **Spring and Autumn Annals** and its exegetical tradition. It organizes records by month-level reign keys and includes chrono-near confounders that mimic real retrieval failures. We propose **CTD** (Calendrical Temporal Dual-encoder), a time-aware dual-encoder combining Fourier-based absolute context with relative offset biasing. Experiments show consistent gains over semantic dual-encoder baselines under time-keyed evaluation. We will release ChunQiuTR and code after the anonymity period.
%U https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.612/
%P 12578-12601
Markdown (Informal)
[ChunQiuTR: Time-Keyed Temporal Retrieval in Classical Chinese Annals](https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.612/) (Wang et al., Findings 2026)
ACL