 A prefecture-level city (地级市) is not a "city" in the strictest sense of the term, but instead an administrative unit comprising, typically, both an urban area (a city in the strict sense) and surrounding rural or less-urbanized areas usually many times the size of the central, built-up core.Prefecture-level cities nearly always contain multiple counties, county-level cities, and other such sub-divisions.To distinguish a prefecture-level city from its actual urban area (city in the strict sense), the term "urban area" (市区 shìqū) is used.