The term "seishi" or "official history", then, refers simply to "those history books that are endorsed by the ruling dynasty as legitimate", so even when it is possible to describe them as highly reliable historical sources, that does not change the fact that they must still be subjected to a rigorous evalation of their historicity in accordance with established historiographical techniques.
正史とはあくまで「王朝が正当と認めた歴史書」という程の意味であり、信頼性の高い史料であるとは言えるが、歴史事実を引き出すには歴史学の手法にのっとり厳密な史料批判を経て行う必要があることに変わりはない。