The expression can however have a pejorative meaning, similar to the expression "le désert français" ("the French desert") used to describe a lack of acculturation of the provinces. The French often use the expression "la France profonde" ("Deep France", similar to " heartland") to designate the profoundly "French" aspects of provincial towns, village life and rural agricultural culture, which escape the hegemony of Paris. There are huge differences in life style, socioeconomic status and world view between Paris and the provinces. The names of the historical French provinces - such as Brittany ( Bretagne), Berry, Orléanais, Normandy ( Normandie), Languedoc, Lyonnais, Dauphiné, Champagne, Poitou, Guyenne and Gascony ( Gascogne), Burgundy ( Bourgogne), Picardy ( Picardie), Provence, Touraine, Limousin, Auvergne, Béarn, Alsace, Flanders, Lorraine, Corsica ( Corse), Savoy ( Savoie). Nineteenth century French literature abounds in scenes of provincial youth "coming up" to Paris to "make it" in the cultural, political or social scene of the capital (this scheme is frequent in the novels of Balzac). At the end of the 19th century, around 50% of the French depended on the land for a living today French farmers only make up 6-7%, while 73% live in cities. These regions all evolved with their own specific cultural and linguistic traditions in fashion, religious observance, regional language and accent, family structure, cuisine, leisure activities, industry, and including the simple way to pour wine, etc.The evolution of the French state and culture, from the Renaissance to today, has however promoted a centralization of politics, media and cultural production in and around Paris (and, to a lesser extent, around the other major urban centers), and the industrialization of the country in the 20th century has led to a massive move of French people from the countryside to urban areas. Modern France is the result of centuries of nation building and the acquisition and incorporation of a number of historical provinces and overseas colonies into its geographical and political structure. In April 2001, the Minister of Education, Jack Lang, admitted formally that for more than two centuries, the political powers of the French government had repressed regional languages, and announced that bilingual education would, for the first time, be recognized, and bilingual teachers recruited in French public schools. Many of those languages have enthusiastic advocates however, the real importance of local languages remains subject to debate. The Basque language is completely unrelated to French and, indeed, to any other language in the world its area straddles the border between the south west of France and the north of Spain. Some regional languages are Roman, like French, such as Occitan. France counts many regional languages, some of them being very different from standard French such as Breton and Alsatian. The Toubon law, from the name of the conservative culture minister who promoted it, makes it mandatory to use French in advertisements directed to the general public.
For instance, there exists a system of subsidies and preferential loans for supporting French cinema. Some action has been taken by the government in order to promote French culture and the French language. Main articles: French language, Languages of France, and Language policy in France
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